More To This
by Lacrimosa Cruentus Luna
Summary: AU Misaki Harada lives a very materialistic life. Or she does until Tsubasa literally barges into her life. Along with him, he brings changes while trying to make her see "There's more to this than what you're living. You just gotta look...and think."
1. Material Girl

**Author's note: **Yay! My second new story today! Why am I putting so much pressure on myself…? This story was originally going to be NatsuMikan, but I realized there aren't enough Tsubasa/Misaki fics and I liked this idea a lot so…whatever. Alright so this is my first Gakuen Alice chapter fic. My other one was a one-shot. But that's not really the point, now is it? As a quick note, because of the plot of this fic, it has to have a lot of totally OCC-ness at the beginning. So don't bother telling me. It'll drive me insane. But other than that…read on, dear reader, read on!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gakuen Alice. And neither do you so don't laugh! Not that you would…I don't think.

* * *

**CHAPTER ONE:**

**MATERIAL GIRL by Madonna**

_Living in a material world  
And I am a material girl  
You know that we are living in a material world  
And I am a material girl_

* * *

**M**isaki Harada was have a decisively bad day. And no, it was not just because her brand favorite Prada heels were covered in a brown, smelly substance that she didn't want to identify. It wasn't because her new Gucci sunglasses were broken. When she thought about it, Misaki realized she should probably be having a great day, but the pink haired girl didn't want to grateful so she didn't think. And we all know not thinking has its consequences.

As a matter of fact, not thinking was why the billionaire's daughter was having such a crappy day. Her day had gone a little something like this….

* * *

Misaki was walking to school and not thinking about how her maid had burned her breakfast, which her mom had skipped out on again, her father was still MIA in the morning, and definitely not thinking about the awful fact that the rain water was ruining her perfectly styled hair when someone crashed into her.

Thankfully, whoever it was had collided into her from the front and had cushioned her fall by landing under her. She opened her eyes and found herself gazing into a set of deep blue ones. The boy underneath her—because it had been a boy who crashed into her—had a star on one of his cheeks and had a head of ruffled black hair that seemed purposefully messy.

"Hey there gorgeous," he said with a wink, waking Misaki from her trance. She all but threw herself off the offender and grimaced when she landed in the puddle of water.

"I'm going to sue you for attacking me," Misaki said darkly and the boy snickered.

"Sure thing beautiful," he said looking amused. "But you might want to change your shirt."

Misaki looked down and realized that not only was her shirt white, it was also drenched. She turned a unique shade of red that didn't even have a name and glared.

"Pervert," she snapped and attempted to pull herself up by grabbing a nearby stop sign. Unfortunately, the pole was just as wet as she so Misaki's hand slipped and she fell back to the ground.

"You need some help?" asked tattoo boy, raising one eye brow in the way Misaki had only dreamt of being able to do.

"No," Misaki said automatically and regretted it immediately when she tried to push herself up only to plunge her hand into another puddle of water. The boy shrugged.

"Alright then," he said easily then smiled a dazzling smile that would've had any girl's heart…except for Misaki of course.

"Humph!" was Misaki's intelligent response and she turned her head away as if to prove his smile wasn't going to work on her.

"I'm Tsubasa Andou," he told her before bounding off. The name sounded familiar but she couldn't quite place it.

Besides, trying to remember would mean she'd have to think and as stated previously, thinking wasn't something Misaki enjoyed doing much of. Because if she were to think, she would have to think about how her parents were continuously fighting which was probably the reason why her dad was never around at meal time; she'd have to think about how material things could never quite replace the love her parents stopped showing her; she would have to think about how much she wanted to be a tomboy like her real personality was, but Misaki felt the need to please her parents—just in case they remembered to love her again—and if being a materialistic snob was what they wanted, then by God Misaki Harada _would be _a materialistic snob.

"Insignificant jerk," she muttered and shivered. She reached into her backpack and pulled out a tiny jacket that wouldn't keep her very warm. But it would cover up her wet, white and now quite see-through shirt. Misaki then proceeded to make her way to school with all the dignity she had left. And it wasn't much. Things were made even worse when she realized that her fall had shattered her new—and expensive—shades and when she stepped into a smelly pile of something which became another thing Misaki opted not to think upon.

* * *

The one of the few bits of luck Misaki had that day was that she ended up at school with enough time to spare to run to the bathroom to try and fix herself up. Another was that the only person in the bathroom was Nobara Ibaragi, a close friend of hers. Nobara's eyes widened when she saw Misaki's pitiful state.

"Some weird kid with a star tattooed on his face crashed into me," Misaki said grumpily.

"A star?" Nobara asked quietly.

"A star," Misaki confirmed and pulled out her bag of cosmetics.

"Did you catch his name?" Nobara asked worriedly. Because if you aren't worried when Misaki is angry, there's something wrong with you.

"Tsubasa Andou," Misaki said and surprised herself by remembering. Misaki rarely remembered anything at all. She brushed past it and continued to fix her make up to the best of her ability.

Her third and last bit of luck was that Nobara had brought a set of Misaki's clothes to return to her and the designer wearing girl was able to change from her soaking wet clothes into something equally as fashionable except warm and dry…and not see-through.

"Um, Misaki-chan, there's something you should know about a new boy in our class," Nobara said nervously. Nobody liked to upset Misaki and the news she had to deliver didn't have anything good in them.

"What is it?" asked Misaki carelessly.

There are many reasons people should think. One is because when one isn't thinking, one has a tendency to not pay close attention to things that should be paid attention to. For example, if Misaki had been thinking at all, she would've noticed her friend's peculiar reaction at the mention of a boy with a star tattoo. She also would've noticed the word's 'new kid' and then Misaki Harada would've put two and two together. Maybe then the shock of who Misaki saw when she opened the classroom door wouldn't have been as bad.

What a shame she didn't.

"Hey beautiful, looks like you changed your shirt," an all too familiar voice called out. Then it clicked for Misaki. Tsubasa Andou was the son of Misaki's mother's rival clothing designer…and was just as rich as Misaki. And now that she could see him in better lighting, he was just as good looking.

"You!" she shouted.

"Harada, I don't care how famous your parents may be, I will _not_have you yelling at our new student," Jinno roared and Misaki scowled. JinJin could be a real pain in the ass when he wanted to be. Which was always, Misaki had decided several years ago. And it wasn't just because Jinno taught math and that was Misaki's worst subject. Misaki walked toward her empty seat which she then realized was right next to Andou.

_This is just peachy…._

But then a thought hit Misaki, something that rarely happened. It wouldn't be very much later on that she realized exactly why she suddenly started thinking again.

_How come I noticed that he was next to me before I sat down?_

Because Misaki was not a thinker, she was not very observant so on a normal day, she probably wouldn't have realized Tsubasa Andou was sitting next to her for another week or so.

_How strange…how new. Wait…since when do I think to myself? Since when do I think in general?!_

"Oi," Misaki's personal hell whispered. Misaki gritted her teeth and chose to ignore him, hoping against hope he would give up if she kept ignoring him. But Misaki was out of luck and her day continued to be awful because Tsubasa Andou grinned devilishly, a facial expression she saw out of the corner of her eye and her heart sank while her temper shot up.

"Hey Pinky!" he hissed and she scowled and stared at her desk which had suddenly become quite interesting.

"Piiiiiiiiinnnnkkkkkyyyyyyyyyy!!" he repeated in a sing-song voice.

"Pinky…did the cat drag you in?" Tsubasa asked in a whispered and Misaki lost her temper.

"I wouldn't look like this if you weren't a bumbling buffoon and crashed into me!" she shouted furiously. Tsubasa snickered and Misaki turned bright red when she realized Jinno was staring at her along with the rest of the class at her sudden outburst.

"Harada. Andou. Detention," Jinno said sharply. Misaki and Tsubasa jumped up and started spewing their objections

"But he—"

"My first day—"

"A WHOLE WEEK OF DETENTION FOR THE BOTH OF YOU!" Jinno roared and both students sat back down with a thud and glared at each other.

"One more sound from either one of you and you both get detentions for the rest of the month," the old man growled just as the frog on his shoulder ribbited.

_I hate you, _Misaki mouthed turning to Tsubasa who shrugged.

_Same here, _he mouthed back.

"I can see you two mouthing at each other!" snapped Jinno. "It counts! You both have detention for another week!!"

No one bothered to point out that his original threat had been the rest of the month.

Yes, Misaki Harada was having an extremely bad day.

* * *

**And so ends the first chapter. You guys know you wanna review…..**


	2. Trouble

**Author's note: **Mmmmmmmm…I really don't have much to say…that's new…oh well. Here's chapter two!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gakuen Alice, but I can think of a few characters I wish I owned….

* * *

**CHAPTER TWO:**

**TROUBLE by Coldplay**

_I never meant to cause you trouble,_.

_And I never meant to do you wrong,_

_And I, well if I ever caused you trouble,_

_Oh no, I never meant to do you harm_

* * *

As he walked to detention—and on his very first day of school—Tsubasa Andou found himself very curious about the little pinkette he was having so much fun torturing. There was something about the way she walked, talked, spoke and breathed for the matter that made Tsubasa think something was off with her. And Tsubasa _was_ going to figure it out.

"Hey there, Pinky," he said grinning. Misaki let out a colorful stream of words under her breath and Tsubasa watched in amusement as her pink eyes widened. He went out on a limb and guessed that swearing at people wasn't something the heiress usually did.

"I hate you," she grumbled and Tsubasa tried not to fall over laughing. He failed pathetically and laughed hysterically. Misaki sent him a look that shut him up quite quickly.

And that was just the thing about Misaki: There was something hidden inside and Tsubasa felt the unusual need to find out what it was and possibly…help?

No, he decided. This girl was only to be used as a source of entertainment for him. Nothing else at all.

"You aren't the first and you won't be the last," he promised her innocently.

"I bet," Misaki growled.

When the pair entered the detention room, Jinno glared at them. Tsubasa smirked as Misaki glared right back.

"Sit. Silence. I'm leaving. I'll come back when it's time for you two to leave," was all the grumpy old man said before leaving and promptly locking the door behind him.

"Am I really locked in this room with you?" Misaki asked Tsubasa.

"That's what it seems like to me," Tsubasa said cheerfully.

"Perfect way to end a perfect day," Misaki said looking irritated. "I hate you," she added.

"Where have I heard that one before?" Tsubasa asked her mockingly.

"Shut up," Misaki snapped.

"You started talking first," Tsubasa pointed out. Misaki scowled, plopped down and said nothing. Tsubasa frowned. That put some dents in his genius plan. So he contented himself by poking Misaki's cheek with a grin on his face. He watched in pure entertainment while her face turned redder and redder till she looked somewhat like a tomato. With her pink hair and colorful clothes she was quite the sight to see.

"Hey Pinky, you're like a rainbow now," he joked and Misaki's temper snapped. She jumped up, grabbed a text book and slammed it against Tsubasa. The blue-eyed boy toppled over looking slightly surprise.

"Now you can be all decked in purple and blue," she raged and to her surprise and irritation, Tsubasa laughed. He laughed and laughed and laughed until he couldn't laugh anymore.

"I knew it!" he said triumphantly. "_I_ _knew it!"_

"Knew what?" demanded Misaki completely bewildered. She'd hit the annoying idiot with a book that was definitely going to leave a mark…so why was he laughing?

Tsubasa stopped laughing and for once his face had a trace of seriousness on it. He was quiet for a minute and Misaki squirmed under the uncomfortable silence.

Noticing this, Tsubasa took extra long to tell her what he was thinking. In fact, he didn't tell her at all.

"I'm hoping you're smart enough to figure it out on your own," he said. "Eventually."

Misaki stared for the longest time.

"I know I'm hot, but staring is kind of, well, obvious, don't you think?" Tsubasa said with a grin and Misaki fought the urge to hit him with something heavy again and see if it kept him laughing. Instead Misaki turned red again and turned away.

"I hear JinJin coming," she said finally and the two went back to their seats. Jinno opened the door and eyed the two.

"I'm letting you out early because you have detention for the next to weeks and because you're being so quiet," he said roughly, unable to admit that he was doing something relatively kind.

"Sounds good," Tsubasa said and jumped up. He all but skipped out of the classroom and Misaki scowled at him for no apparent reason.

She convinced herself that she was thoroughly pissed off just because the boy was trouble. He was the epitome of trouble to be exact.

"So Pinky…I'll see you tomorrow," he said slyly and Misaki rolled her eyes.

"And what a shame that is," she said sharply and almost bit off her tongue. Misaki had only dreamed of all the awful things she would say when people annoyed her, but Tsubasa was the only person she'd ever came close to being rude to. Misaki Harada was supposed to be the equivalent of kind, polite, courteous, and such. And Tsubasa brought out…well, she wasn't quite sure what it was, but decided to label it as "trouble".

Tsubasa darted off in another direction and Misaki sighed. Now came the hard part…

* * *

"MISAKI HARADA WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" her mother raged and Misaki fought the urge to take a full step back. When facing cameras, the famous fashion designer was full of smiles, but behind closed doors, she was a _beast_.

"Detention," Misaki said simply, praying she could keep this conversation short. After all, the shorter the conversation, the less chance she had of getting her head lopped off. Misaki's mother was silent for a minute and Misaki was sure she'd gotten away with it when—

"NEVER IN MY LIFE HAVE I EXPECTED SUCH A RIDICULOUS THING FROM YOU! IF YOU EVER LAND YOURSELF WITH ANOTHER DETENTION I SWEAR TO YOU CHILD I WILL—"

Misaki all but ran to her room before she had to explain that she had another two weeks of detention. She also didn't want to hear what her mother was going to do to her.

Maybe skin her alive? Make her work? Push her out of a plane somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean? It was quite possible.

For a change, Misaki allowed her mind to think. She avoided the thought of her parents and instead found her brain swarmed by thoughts of a certain boy with a star on his face. Misaki had decided she would never again speak—or think— _ITS_ name again and would from now on refer to him as Trouble.

Misaki instantly blamed Tsubasa —er, _Trouble_ for this whole mess and became one hundred percent sure—not that there had ever been much room to doubt—that Tsubasa Andou (she'd long since given up on calling him "Trouble") was the epitome of trouble indeed.

And Misaki Harada had the feeling that things weren't going to be getting any better from here. What she didn't know was that she was both right and wrong at the same exact time.

* * *

And I'm done! Yay! Now Misaki isn't half as OOC as she used to be...So…you people feel like reviewing? Pretty please?


	3. Forward Motion

**Author's note: **Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! Updating time! Guess what people! I start High School in two days! I don't wanna be a freshman…oh well.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gakuen Alice, but maybe if I do well enough in school…wait. No. Not even then.

* * *

**CHAPTER THREE:**

**FORWARD MOTION by Relient K**

_Cause I struggle with forward motion  
I struggle with forward motion  
We all struggle with forward motion_

* * *

If Misaki thought her previous day had been bad, then her next was pure hell.

She'd gotten absolutely no sleep because she was thinking about Tsubasa—not that she'd ever tell _him _that—and she'd also been dreading explaining her next two weeks of detention.

To make matters worse, when she arrived at school, whoever wasn't talking about the fact that she and Tsubasa both had detention and was speculating what "secret things" happened in there when they were together and _if_ they were together or not was babbling about how "absolutely delicious Tsubasa Andou is."

It annoyed the living crap out of the pinkette.

By lunchtime, she was prepared to find Tsubasa and kill him so the student body could talk about his mangled body instead of anything else. But instead, Misaki wandered outside in hopes of finding peace and quiet.

Misaki plopped down under and large tree and sighed deeply.

"Peace at last," she murmured only to have the silence broken by a very loud snore. Misaki looked up at the branches to see the talk of the town himself sleeping near the top of the tree. Misaki pondered on how easy it would be to climb up, push him off, and make it seem like he'd rolled over in his sleep.

But just as her plan was formulating, one blue eye opened and Misaki caught herself staring. Apparently, so did Tsubasa.

"What did I tell you about staring at me?" he asked her sleepily.

"I wasn't staring," Misaki protested.

"Sure ya weren't," Tsubasa said lazily and jumped down from the tree.

"I wasn't," Misaki protested.

"Then why're you putting up so much of a fight?"

He had her there.

"Whatever," Misaki responded sharply and turned away.

"Something's up with you," Tsubasa noted. "Normally you'd be with your posse."

"How do you know that? Are you stalking me?" demanded Misaki, hoping she'd caught him.

"Don't be dumb, Pinky. I wouldn't stalk you," Tsubasa replied. "You're just always surrounded by people."

"I wanted some quiet today," Misaki confessed.

"Why?"

"Because of you."

Misaki almost bit her tongue at her unnecessary honesty.

"Ah, so the little Princess has been thinking of me?" Tsubasa teased and Misaki scowled. She couldn't exactly tell him he was dead right because…well…because he was Tsubasa.

"Do you want to listen to me or not?" she snapped.

"Go on," Tsubasa said innocently.

"Like I was saying, I can't think, I can't move forward, I can't…" Misaki stopped.

"So your day is a bit too complicated for you to keep going?" Tsubasa guessed.

"Something like that."

"Sometimes it's better to go backward," Tsubasa told her. Misaki blinked.

"What?"

"Instead of going forward, take a few steps back and look at all the things you've missed," Tsubasa explained. Misaki frowned.

"But then it's wrong," she argued because in life, you can always move forward, never back. Tsubasa shrugged.

"There's nothing wrong with that," he said and got up.

"Good luck with getting some peace," Tsubasa said and then it occurred to Misaki that she would probably spend the rest of the day thinking about what Tsubasa said and not get any peace at all.

"You jerk!" she shouted and Tsubasa snickered.

"See you in detention, Princess," was all he said before walking away.

Misaki regretted not pushing him out of the tree when she had the chance.

* * *

Tsubasa had a smile on his face when he walked away from Misaki, but was inwardly beating himself up. She was just a toy, something to entertain himself with. Why did he want her to see beyond the little box she'd planted herself in?

_Because taking her out of the box will irritate her and throw her off course. Then I'll be able to laugh at her._

But Tsubasa's annoying conscious that frequently annoyed him knew better. Before the voices in his head could start talking, Tsubasa forced them down. He was right—as usual—when he told Misaki that moving backward is better than moving forward.

That was how Tsubasa lived after all.

Why?

He'd never admit it aloud, but he thought that moving forward was too hard. So why not stay in one place? Or go backward because that's even easier.

Thankfully, a group of girls who'd taken to stalking him appeared.

"Hello, Tsubasa-kun," their weird leader said shyly. She was pretty, but _so damn annoying_. But today she posed as a distraction and Tsubasa took the opportunity to not think about _Misaki. _

She was driving him crazy.

_This freaking girl…my plan is backfiring…my plans NEVER backfire…_

"What plans?" some girl asked and Tsubasa jumped.

"Ummmm…birthday plans?" he said uncertainly. Another girl, giggled like he'd said the funniest thing in the world.

"But Tsubasa-kun, your birthday isn't until July," she trilled and Tsubasa gaped.

"How do you know that exactly?" Tsubasa asked, feeling rather uncomfortable.

"It's all in your bio that I found in a magazine," she said smugly. "I have pictures of you covering my walls."

Tsubasa blinked.

"Oh…well, OK then," he said blankly and began to inch away.

The bell rang and Tsubasa all but ran away from the strange girls. He heard a light laugh that quickly turned into a fit of hysteria.

"What are you laughing at Princess?" he growled and turned to face Misaki.

"I saw everything," she said in between laughs.

After suffering through Tsubasa's tormenting, Misaki finally had a chance to laugh! She silently thanked fan girls.

"Don't tell me that's never happened to you," Tsubasa pointed out and Misaki shrugged. It was true, but she'd never had someone directly inform her that they had pictures of her all over their room.

"You know, my day isn't half as bad when you have that tortured sort of look on your face," Misaki observed and darted away toward the classroom, leaving Tsubasa behind, shaking his head.

_You just wait Princess. I'll get you back for laughing, _he thought and grinned. This was entertainment.

_And all it's ever going to be. _

But if that was the truth, then why did seeing her laugh so hard make him so...happy?

_

* * *

_

Yay! It's done! Reviews anyone?


	4. Faces

**Author's note: **Meh. High school isn't half as bad as I thought it be…my Social Study Survey teacher is hilarious. I love that guy…anyway, I got no homework so I'm squeezing in an update :) don't you all just feel so special? I changed my pen name at last! Obviously.

**Disclaimer: **I waited the whole day for one of my teachers to tell me that I finally own Gakuen Alice and none of them did, so I'm assuming that I still don't own it.

**CHAPTER FOUR:**

**FACES by Scary Kids Scaring Kids**

_Let's tear away these faces we hide behind_

_Cutting through the airwaves_

_Open up our minds_

* * *

"Harada, Andou, looks like you two celebrity children don't get detention for your own today," Jinno announced. As Misaki and Tsubasa entered the detention room, Misaki gazed around and saw three extra people in the room. Two she knew: Mikan Sakura, who was like a little sister to her and Natsume Hyuuga who was…hot but weird. He tried to keep to himself but girls followed him everywhere. He was also a pyromaniac. Mikan was his main victim and Misaki guessed that Natsume had an attraction to Mikan, but so did his best friend Ruka so Natsume opted not to do anything about his own feelings.

Misaki shook her head. Thinking about Natsume Hyuuga was making her brain work for a change and she didn't like that, no not one bit!

The other person in the detention room was a gangly boy with glasses who Misaki remembered was called Megane. She guessed that this was only a nick name caused by his glasses, but she wouldn't have known because she'd never talked to him in her life. They'd gone to school together for years, but their social spheres didn't come close to touching each other.

Suddenly, Serina-sensei popped in and muttered something to Jinno about Narumi being attacked by a mob of rejected girls and needing help. With one last evil look and a ribbit from his frog, JinJin left.

Immediately, Natsume and Mikan began fighting about something and Misaki stared out the window, determined to ignore Tsubasa.

"I have a dare for you Pinky," Tsubasa said quietly.

"Try me."

Misaki mentally slapped herself. So much for ignoring him. But he'd used the magical "D" word.

"Talk to Megane."

"What?"

"Just a quick conversation," Tsubasa said.

"Why?"

"I dare you to."

"That's stupid," Misaki said haughtily. The sad fact was, Misaki Harada never backed down from dares, and hell would take her before she backed down from a challenge made by Tsubasa Andou.

As if he could read her mind, Tsubasa grinned nastily at her and Misaki let out a ferocious growl and stomped towards Megane. She plopped down in the seat next to him and scowled.

"Hi," she said waspishly and Megane stared at her through his glasses for a moment, he took them off and rubbed them on his shirt, put them back on as if he couldn't believe Misaki Harada was _actually _sitting in front of him—something that wasn't quite surprising—but eventually gave up.

"That Andou kid is weird," he said shortly and Misaki all but exploded.

"Finally! Someone who agrees!" she exclaimed and Megane scooted back in his seat about an inch.

He had to be honest: he found Misaki slightly scary.

Misaki then went on a rant about something that ended up not being Tsubasa-related in any way, shape, or form. Natsume, Mikan and Tsubasa all watched from a safe distance.

Much to Natsume's annoyance Mikan had her eyes on Tsubasa the whole damn time.

Natsume scowled, something Tsubasa noticed. He then decided he would make it part of his life's work to play matchmaker with these two, no matter what it took.

All he needed was some well planned timing…

Just as Misaki starting rambling about her cat who got run over by a car—Megane was looking a bit sick at that point—Jinno walked in.

"Get out of here you miscreants," he growled and the group of "miscreants" took off.

"Buh-bye, Megane-kun," Misaki said cheerfully before skipping off. Megane eyed the pinkette for a moment before walking in the other direction.

Tsubasa quickly caught up with Misaki.

"I was right all along," he said.

"About what?" Misaki grumbled, her mood ruined by the mood beside her.

"You don't actually like all those so called friends of yours," Tsubasa said triumphantly. Misaki's jaw dropped.

"_What?"_

Tsubasa shrugged easily.

"I'm just saying that when you tear away that fake face of yours and let the real you out you—" Tsubasa froze and bit his lip as if he'd just said something and would give anything to take it back.

"I what?" Misaki asked, suddenly curious. Tsubasa looked down at the ground, but his bangs didn't completely cover up the fact that his face was slightly red. Misaki blinked.

"Nothing," Tsubasa said sharply. Misaki frowned.

"You look kinda sick," she said and touched his forehead lightly. Tsubasa jumped back as if she'd electrocuted him.

"I wish you hadn't done that," he said with a soft sigh and walked away.

Misaki wondered what she'd done for a moment then decided that Tsubasa Andou was just plain weird and it didn't matter at all so why even think about it? After all, she had more important things to worry about. Like explaining the detentions to her mother.

But before she could get rid of the thought, she pondered on what Tsubasa meant by "fake face."

The most plausible answer was that he could see right through her and knew she was just acting like she knew she should. But Misaki didn't like that thought, so she came to the fake conclusion that Tsubasa was under the deranged theory that Misaki constantly wore a mask because she had a face like Freddy from _Nightmare on Elm street._

Far fetched, but better than the truth.

With that, Misaki made her way home without another thought on anything at all.

* * *

Tsubasa on the other hand had many thoughts, all of which surrounded Misaki and just how stupid he was.

"What to do, what to do," he mumured, but for once, all genius plots and witty plans evaded him.

That wasn't good in the least.

* * *

Ta-da~! Special moment where Tsubasa acts weird and Misaki's all like 'WTF?' but is too lazy to think of an answer! Damn I'm a genius XD Anyway…review!!


	5. Famous Last Words

**Author's note: **Whoa….I took a while to update now didn't I? Oh well…I guess there really isn't much I can do about it except update now! So I am! Yay!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gakuen Alice. But neither do you so don't laugh at my pain!!

* * *

**CHAPTER 5:**

**FAMOUS LAST WORDS**

_I see you lying next to me  
With words I thought I'd never speak  
Awake and unafraid  
Asleep or dead_

_

* * *

_

Saturdays had become a personal favorite day of the week for Misaki. Sunday, too. It was all because all the _other _days of the week involved Tsubasa Andou. It wasn't just him anymore. It was the fact that he was actually starting to grow on Misaki—but just a little bit! Nothing serious—and it was annoying her.

"Oi, Misaki!"

Misaki was swept out of her thoughts by a loud voice yelling in her ear. Other people in the park were starting to stare.

"What?" she snapped.

"I asked you if you wanted to come get shit-faced with us tonight," her friend repeated. Technically, he wasn't really her friend. He was Nobara's cousin who was coming to visit and had taken to trailing around Misaki, despite the fact that she couldn't even remember his name.

Now Misaki was uncertain. Alcohol was no stranger, but Misaki had thought that the taste was disgusting so she hadn't actually shit-faced…and the thought was both frightening and tempting.

"I dunno…" she said uncertainly.

"It'll be fun," Luna chimed in. Nobara didn't say much, just spaced off.

"I still think—" Misaki began, but Nobara's cousin cut her off.

_I should really ask him his name, _Misaki thought as he began ranting a million and two reasons Misaki should go get drunk with them, none of which she paid much attention to. The whole group was actually starting to annoy her, another thing Misaki was secretly blaming Tsubasa for. Not that she'd tell him.

Finally, Misaki got bored of the reasons being spewed at her both from Luna and the new boy. She opened her mouth to agree when a hand tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey Pinky, I wanna talk to you for just a second," Tsubasa said quietly. Misaki didn't protest, instead following him willingly, ignoring the stares boring into her back.

"What is it?" she demanded.

"Don't go, Misaki," Tsubasa said. It wasn't an order or a demand. It was a request, something the interested Misaki.

"Why not?" she asked. She wanted to push him now, just to see what she could get.

"People die," he said shortly. That wasn't good enough.

"Yeah, well people die all the time," Misaki pointed out.

"Look Pinky, nothing comes good out of drinking, OK?" Tsubasa replied, his voice getting more and more irritated.

"It's none of your business," Misaki said defensively. Because he was totally right and that pissed Misaki off. Tsubasa placed a hand on Misaki's arm and tightened, not enough to hurt, just to keep her there.

"Will you trust me, just this once?" Tsubasa asked her. At this point, his eyes were closed.

"I'll be fine," Misaki said sharply. "Nothing will go wrong."

Tsubasa's eyes flashed open and something flashed in the deep blue that surprised Misaki. He looked so…bitter.

"Those are some serious famous last words your playing right there, Pinky," Tsubasa told her darkly. And then there was a reflection of agony, like a limb was being torn off and Misaki knew that he'd been hurt badly by something. It was also most likely alcohol related, which would explain why he was so determined to stop her from doing this. The only thing it didn't explain was that it was her he was stopping, but Misaki willingly overlooked that factor.

"Alright," Misaki said carefully. "I won't go."

She watched as Tsubasa's body relaxed and the bitterness faded away.

"Thanks," he said softly and let go of her arm.

"Wait right here," she ordered and he smiled weakly.

"Same old Pinky," he noted and Misaki shot him a dark look.

"Oh cram it," she growled and walked quickly back to the group.

"I'm not getting shit-faced," she informed them.

"Why not?" Nobara's cousin demanded. Misaki shrugged because the excuse "Tsubasa Said Not To" sounded really, really stupid.

"Just 'cuz," she said shortly. She turned to walk away.

"If you walk away from us, you can't ever come back, Misaki," Luna said dangerously.

Misaki looked at Tsubasa standing, looking bored. But he was waiting for her. For _her! _

"I think I'll take my chances with him," Misaki said curtly and this time, she walked away for good. She never really like Luna anyway. The girl was a bit deranged.

As she fell in step with Tsubasa, he smiled at her.

"You should see the great big world for what it is," he told her.

"Huh?"

"There's more to this than what you're living. You just gotta look…and think," he told her. Misaki caught the hidden insult and punched Tsubasa in the arm. He snickered at her irritation. Then Misaki had a realization:

She had just walked away from everything she knew: her popularity, her friends, her idiocy, her ignorance. Misaki decided to take a chance, not just with Tsubasa, but with the great big world.

"Alright, Tsubasa," she said challengingly, "show me what I've been missing."

Tsubasa smirked and his deep blue eyes twinkled.

"You're on Pinky," he said cheekily.

"I still hate you," Misaki said quickly, just in case Tsubasa had begun to think otherwise.

"Whatever floats your boat," Tsubasa said with a shrug. "But those are some more famous last words."

Misaki shook her head, not quite understanding what Tsubasa was talking about, but guessing he knew just as well as she did that Misaki really didn't hate him...no not at all.

And so Misaki Harada and Tsubasa Andou became _almost_ friends. It wasn't very far, but it was a start.

* * *

Finally done!! Yay!


	6. Let Go

Author's note: Hmmm...I have the next four chapters laid out in my mind, so writing will be easy Finding time to get onto the computer probably wont be After that bad news...here is your update!!

Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice. But I think the current owner is doing a very good job themselves.

* * *

**CHAPTER SIX:**

**LET GO by Thieves And Villains**

_The sweet surrender.  
There's nothing better to believe  
When everyone turns  
And it's all on you to make it through the night._

* * *

Tsubasa was amazed. Almost. He had successfully gotten Misaki to agree to let him show her what she was missing (_why did he want to in the first place?_), but it didn't entirely surprise him that he could do it. After all, he was Tsubasa Andou, famous, genius, and all around awesome (_and being with her was probably going to ruin the reputation he'd worked so hard on). _

"I still don't see the world differently," Misaki told him. She actually looked amused at this. Tsubasa knew she was taunting him. He also knew that he would show her otherwise.

"You have some habits to break first, Pinky," he told her cheerfully. He took a moment to enjoy the look on her face at the name "Pinky".

"What kind of 'habits'?" she demanded.

"You're too tame," he said shortly. Misaki looked puzzled, so Tsubasa tried to find a way to tell her what she was doing.

"You hold yourself in when you want to bash someone over the head with a book," he began. "You don't say the things you want to say."

"Are you _sure _about that?" Misaki asked dryly and Tsubasa grinned, remembering the time not-too-long-ago when she'd nailed him with a textbook.

"Bad analogy," he said with a shrug. "Anyway, from what I can tell, you see the colors of the world a duller shade than they really are. You block out everything because you don't want to think. Thinking hurts, doesn't it?"

From the look on her face, Tsubasa got the fact that he'd struck home.

_Not surprising. I am a genius after all. _

"OK...maybe a little bit," Misaki grumbled irritably.

"That's it? That's all you can say?" Tsubasa asked her, wondering if his prodding and mental poking would work. When a watering can yanked from an innocent gardener collided with his face, Tsubasa got his answer.  
"How's that for you?" Misaki yelled and tossed the watering can back to the gardener who looked ready to faint. In all honesty, he had been tempted to call the police, but when two celebrity children are fighting in front of your house, it's much better to record it and either put it on YouTube or send it in for a load of money. Which one he was going to do remained a question for the gardener.

"Much better," Tsubasa said, while secretly wondering what it was going to take to get rid of the nasty bruise he could already feel growing on his face. He pulled himself up off the ground and felt his back protest furiously.

Misaki frowned.

"You provoked me on purpose," she said.

"Talk about stating the obvious," Tsubasa snorted and watched as Misaki eyed the gardener and his watering can. The pink haired girl chose to more peaceful option and crossed her arms, giving Tsubasa a triumphant smile.

Needless to say, Tsubasa felt pretty damn proud. He watched the way her eyes glittered with a light that hadn't been there when he first met her. Watching her, he mentally calculated how far was too far when it came to showing Misaki what he needed her to see

"You're starting to let go," Tsubasa told her quietly.

"Of what?" she asked.

"I'll show you at some point," he replied vaguely. It took all he had for Tsubasa to not grin because, just as he had suspected, his answer did not sit well with Misaki.

"So there's no chance of you telling me now?" she said.

"None at all," Tsubasa confirmed.

"None?"

"Not a chance."

"You sure?"

"Believe me, I'm sure."

The conversation continued in the same fashion for quite some time until Misaki lost it and pounced on Tsubasa. After nearly pummeling him to a pulp Misaki looked at her clock on her ridiculously expensive phone that now had a crack in it. She frowned.

"It's almost sunset," she said softly. "Mom is going to be pissed."

"No more pissed than mine will be when she's sees that video of you and me all over the place," Tsubasa said.

"You make that sound terrible," she groaned.

"You _are _sitting on me," Tsubasa pointing out grinning devilishly. Misaki jumped back so fast, she toppled over. Luckily, they were sitting at the park on the grass.

"Whatever. I hope I don't get too beat up for this," Misaki mumbled, the last part more to herself than to Tsubasa.

"Then stay out later," Tsubasa suggested.

"Ehh?"

"Well, if she's going to be angry anyway, just stay out as late as you want...with me," Tsubasa elaborated. He was gambling a lot on her response on his last two words, but he decided to take the chance.

Misaki could've come up with a million reasons not to. But for some reason, she found herself _wanting _to stay out with Tsubasa.

"I'll make you a deal," she said, a genius plan coming to her mind.

"Shoot."

"I'll stay out with you, if you tell me what I'm letting go of," Misaki said smugly. Tsubasa found himself being pleasantly surprised at this. First off, his gamble had gone over well and second, she had outsmarted him.

"Deal," he said. "But there's one thing I should tell you before."

"What?"

"I can't actually _tell _you," he explained. "I have to _show _you."

"Aren't they the same thing?" Misaki asked puzzled.

Tsubasa shook his head.

"I really need to show you this if that's what you think," he sighed.

Before Misaki could say anything at all, Tsubasa grabbed her hand gently and pulled her along. Misaki was startled at this, but was even more startled when she realized that she didn't particularly want him to let go.

"So where are we going again?" she asked, trying to distract herself.

"Somewhere no one else will be," Tsubasa said evasively.

"That's a lot of places," Misaki pointed out.

"If you guess right, I'll tell you," Tsubasa offered. He still hadn't released her hand.

"Fine," Misaki said, and so the guessing game began.

* * *

Ta-da! There is my update after…way too long. Look at it as my Thanksgiving present! Or the Thanksgiving turkey I'm giving you guys, cuz I don't think you actually get presents on Thanksgiving….


	7. Fully Alive

**Author's note: **I know what you guys are thinking: who is this person? But my terrible case of writers block has ended so…what else was I going to say…? Awwww whatever.

**Disclaimer: **Gakuen Alice. Again, not mine.

**

* * *

**

**CHAPTER SEVEN:**

**FULLY ALIVE by Flyleaf**

_Fully alive,_

_More than most,_

_Ready to smile and love life_

_

* * *

_

"Scandia?"

"Nope."

"Hell?"

"Nope."

"Sure seems like it," Misaki growled. She didn't mean it, but since it was Tsubasa, she had to put up a decent argument. Besides, they'd been walking for about ten minutes and the whole time she'd been guessing. And if you couldn't already tell, none of her guesses had been the right one.

"Every great journey begins with a single step," Tsubasa quoted and Misaki raised her eyebrows at him. She pointed with her free hand, pointed at the ground. Or more accurately, her feet.

"Not in these heels," she informed him. Tsubasa surveyed the six-inch heels and wondered how girls could walk around in such death-traps.

"I could carry you," he offered teasingly. Misaki scowled. She bent down, slid off the shoes and tossed them as far away as she could. To be honest, it wasn't very far, but she ignored the minor detail.

"Let's roll," she said, acting like she totally hadn't thrown away ridiculously expensive heels. Tsubasa smiled appreciatevily, though whether it was what she did or for the short view he managed to score when she bent over, no one will ever know.

"We're almost there anyway," Tsubasa told her cheerfully, all the while wondering on a single question: if heels are so painful to walk in at times that someone would rather go barefoot, why wear them _ever?_

No miraculous answer came so Tsubasa gave up on the thought.

"Here it is," Tsubasa said proudly.

"An abandoned bulding," Misaki said, trying and failing to sound impressed.

Tsubasa laughed.

"Wait till you see the top," he said mischeviously.

"The top?"

The thing seemed to have no top to it. Too tall.

"The very tippy top," Tsubasa confirmed.

"So how do you know about this place?" Misaki asked Tsubasa as they crossed the bright yellow DO NOT CROSS tape into the building.

"Well, my dad used to be a great construction worker, remember?" Tsubasa pointed out. It was true. Model mother, amazing construction worker father.

"Used to be?"

"He lost all his inspiration. This is one of his many failed works," Tsubasa said heavily.

"You couldn't have picked a more depressing place to bring me," Misaki put in thoughtfully.

"It is pretty sad...but that's not why we're here," Tsubasa pulled her along up a long flight of stairs that seemed to never end. Then, they were at the top.

"Whoa," was all Misaki could come up with.

"You like it."

It wasn't a question. It was impossible not to like. The whole city looked like it was on flames as the sun sunk lower and lower down and Misaki could see it all from where she stood.

She found herself taking another step and another and another until she was on the very edge of the building. Never before that day would she have gone so far.

The wind tore through her hair and tugged her clothes, begging her to take one more step. Adrenaline spread through her body and everything was clear for her.

The colors were bright instead of the dull shades Misaki had always seen them as; the lines razor sharp where they had once been fuzzy. She absorbed it all. The old Misaki stepped forward and fell down the fatal flight. The old Misaki died with the setting sun and the new Misaki was born.

She stepped back and walked slowly back to Tsubasa, smiling brilliantly.

"How do you feel," he asked her.

"Alive," she said, and realized she was out of breath like she'd run a marathon.

"Well, I didn't think you were before, but I guess you could've been if you'd fallen."

"No! I mean _fully _alive!"

Tsubasa smirked.

"Just like I thought you'd be," he said sounding quite satisfied with himself. "But for now, you need to get home."

"Shame, it's like I was just brought into life and now it's going to be gone," Misaki sighed.

"Why?"

"You think my mother is going to let me live after today?"

"Ah. I see."

Misaki smiled all the same.

"The sooner the better then," she said evenly.

The walk home was silent, but peaceful. Misaki took in the feel of the ground under her feet, the smell of the city after the rain, the stars and the cold. She knew that later memories of painful things would return, but for now, everything was okay.

As she said, Misaki was alive.

* * *

Done!


	8. Ugly

**I'm sorry it took so long to get this up!! The file wouldn't upload :( So here it is anyway!!**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gakuen Alice. I wish I did. I wish I owned a lot of things. But I don't.

* * *

**UGLY by The Exies**

_We are dirt we are alone  
You know we're far from sober!  
Look closer, are you like me?  
Are you ugly?_

* * *

The night was still and silent as Misaki and Tsubasa walked at a snails pace toward Misaki's house— which was more specifically a mansion. Misaki was usually scared of the night, but tonight, of yes tonight the darkness was bright. The stars lit up the sky along with the crescent moon, so beautiful Misaki was able to ignore the fact that she was freezing cold. Tsubasa surveyed her, looking quite like that cat that caught the canary.

"What's with the look on your face?" Misaki asked exasperatedly. It surprised her for a moment that she'd even noticed. He smiled brilliantly.

"Oh, nothing," he said lightly, but his taunting smile said otherwise.

"Tell me," Misaki pressed.

"Nope. Not a chance," Tsubasa said. Misaki considered punching him in the face, but the night was peaceful in chaos so she decided to keep things as…diplomatic as possible. Instead, she tried a trick that worked with most boys and had never failed her before: she cried.

Well, she didn't _actually _cry. Instead, she pinched herself and blinked rapidly so tears were brought to her large, pink eyes. She let out an obviously fake sniffle. It couldn't have been too fake, though, because Tsubasa fell for it. His eyes widened and he looked like he was at war with his own brain. Patiently, Misaki waited.

"OK, OK! I'll tell you! Just don't cry!" he sighed. Misaki, who chose to milk the situation for all it was worth, let out another incredibly fake sniffle.

"S-s-sure," she said daintily.

"I was thinking about how bad I wanted—" he began, but was cut off quickly when a loud slamming ricocheted around the street. Or at least that's what it sounded like. The pair jumped and all thoughts of the previous conversation were forgotten. At least they were until Tsubasa made a quick observation.

"You were only fake-crying!" he accused her sharply. Misaki snorted before dissolving into a fit of laughter.

"Miss Harada, your mother is extremely angry," a gentle voice said from the door that had been open forcefully.

"Oh. Damn it," Misaki sighed. She turned around to face the maid who had been more of a mother to the pinkette than her own would—could—ever be.

"I think I should probably make my grand escape before things get ugly," Tsubasa said with a hint of a smirk on his face. Misaki rolled her eyes.

"Really? What _ever_ might have tipped you off?"

"Your friend is shooting me death glares," Tsubasa answer, seeming completely oblivious to her dark sarcasm. Misaki then realized he probably didn't get it because she never used it. Well, she was never sarcastic out loud. Just in her brain.

Oh man, that is sooooo not sane.

Neither is thinking in your head.

I'm thinking in my head?

Yes, hon, yes you are.

….all of you just shut up!

"But we weren't saying anything."

Misaki jumped and turned pink when she realized the last bit she'd spoken _hadn't _been in her head.

"Oh, well…um, yeah, you see…" the girl was lost for words.

Tsubasa laughed and walked away.

"Bye, bye," he said, still laughing as he faded in with the shadows. Misaki wrinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue, looking extremely undignified, much to the shock—and silent joy—of her maid.

"The devil calls," Misaki said quietly and her maid stifled a laugh.

"You've had a good influence," she noted. "That boy maybe?"

"Maybe," Misaki said, deliberately avoiding the knowing smile that would no doubt be reflecting in the green eyes of her companion.

"GIRL, GET OVER HERE!"

"Well, now, the devil really _does _call," Misaki said with a laugh. Strange reaction, considering her mother was an inch away from coming out with a chainsaw.

Misaki followed her maid into the house, imagining how amazing it was going to look. Things had been dull before, but with her aware now, it would be spectacular.

When she gazed around, Misaki nearly jumped back out of the house.

It was ugly. No, it was hideous. Indescribably horrendous. The crystal, the carpet, the furniture, the décor. Everything that Misaki had grown up with made her want to throw up and run back outside. There was no freedom in it. It reminded her of horrible things. Things like the screaming when her parents fought and the smashing when the glass shattered on the ground in fits of fury. Glass that refused to come out of the carpet. And more screams. Yes, yes, the never ending screaming that tormented Misaki even in her dreams.

"Where have you _been_?"

Misaki jumped and found herself face to face with her mother.

"Hi there, Ma," she said wryly. The next thing she felt was a stinging pain. She could feel the red mark left on her cheek by the slap she'd just received. Lovely.

"Answer the question," the older woman seethed. Misaki found it to be quite impressive how someone who could design such beautiful dresses and smile so kindly for the camera could be such a damn bitch.

Raw talent, that's how.

"You know. Out. Doing, like, kid stuff," Misaki said shortly. Another slap. Ouch.

"Answer me!"

"Slapping me isn't going to get you anywhere. You should look into pacifism, Mother. I think it'd be good for your soul, along with those wrinkles that are coming along." It was to a point where the girl was all but snarling. Later on, Misaki would be extremely amused by her mother's shocked silence. Misaki had never gone so far as to comment on the cursed wrinkles before!

"You've had a bad influence," was all she said before stepping back. Misaki walked up the stairs, just as shocked as anyone else.

* * *

As Tsubasa strolled along the dark, empty streets, he let his thoughts wander to where he usually forbid them to go: the 'What If' section of his brain. First file to be brought up was the one he hated more than anything: "What If They Cared?"_ They_, of course, being his parents.

The drinking, the being out every night, the not coming home, the bring hookers home when he _did _come around. He'd tried it all and—news flash—nothing had worked. It was immensely frustrating. He wondered what is was like for Misaki, to have parents who wondered where she was. She didn't have to do anything and they would freak out. For the third time in his life Tsubasa was jealous of somebody.

The first time was when he was seven and his older brother won a prize. His older brother had always been talented and always got the praise that Tsubasa craved. After that moment, he became indifferent to his parents opinions and became the world's number one slacker. The second time when he was last year and Kaname's parents hugged him after his surgery because—oh no, no, no, he didn't need to remember what had been all his fault. But wasn't that why he'd gotten the tattoo in the first place? To remember. Yes. Tsubasa paused for a moment. He looked back on the memory of when he received the news that Kaname was going to live. He also remembered quite clearly that Kaname's parents had walked over to Tsubasa and hugged him as well.

They should have beat me over the head with a crowbar, Tsubasa thought bitterly.

Now, ten years after his first taste of jealousy, Tsubasa realized just how much he needed to see Kaname. But it was three AM. Breaking in was an option, as usual. It wouldn't be the first time….

No, tomorrow. And it will be a legal visit to boot.

"If they cared, I wouldn't be me," Tsubasa muttered to himself and walked toward the house that he was technically supposed to call home. The lights were off and no one woke when he climbed the giant tree and crawled into is bedroom through the window. He could've gone through the door. But entering the threshold of hell wasn't something people enjoyed doing. Crawling through the window, however, was another matter entirely.

When Tsubasa dreamed, he dreamed of fires, crying, sirens, surgeons, and apologies.

* * *

When Misaki woke up the next morning, it was the fault of a cold rush of wind. Strange since she could've sworn she closed her window. She was exhausted and considered ditching for two reasons: the first was that she'd pissed off her trigger happy mother and didn't want to be around when the bomb went off, and secondly, it was the end of the school week, thirdly, Tsubasa was at—whoa what? Nope. No, there were only two reasons she wanted to go to school. Only two and it was going to stay that way.

Denial isn't good for you, dear.

Would you just get out of my head?

I heard denial gives you wrinkles.

Wrinkles?

Yup.

Hold up. There's two of you know?

Two what?

Voices. Duh.

Oh.

Hey, let's bug the hell out of her!

Just shut up, OK?

"Pinky, the first step to insanity is hearing voices in your head," Tsubasa said casually. Misaki bit back a scream of surprise, instead throwing the nearest book she could find at the intruder. Tsubasa skillfully dodged, making Misaki wonder how many girls had woken up to him in her room and thrown something at him. Whatever.

"What are you doing in my room?" she demanded.

"Sitting," Tsubasa said in that tone of his that made Misaki want to throw something at him. Which she did. This time, she made her mark.

"Ow…." Tsubasa mumbled and Misaki smiled looking rather satisfied.

"So what _are _you doing in my room?" asked Misaki, now calmed down. Hitting people with heavy objects does wonders for your mood.

"I was waiting for you," Tsubasa said with a shrug. "I just got here anyway.

"Creeper," Misaki grumbled, causing Tsubasa to laugh so hard he fell off the chair he was seated in.

"Just a little now that I think about it," he said, still laughing.

"So why did you wait for me again?" she asked feeling more and more bewildered by the second.

"It's cold and rainy outside," Tsubasa said with a shrug. Misaki rolled her eyes.

"Go somewhere else so I can get ready," she growled and Tsubasa complied, afraid of the thought of another book sent his way.

It took all of fifteen minutes before Misaki and Tsubasa were out the door, watched carefully but a set of sharp, disapproving eyes. Not that they were aware of it.

When they got to school, Misaki blinked. Tsubasa noticed her frozen form and stopped.

"You see it now, don't you," he said gently.

"Was I this…this…this…?"

"Ugly?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," Misaki said, staring at the people she'd once called her friends. She watched from a distance as they tormented a small girl who Misaki didn't know. No, wait, she knew her…. Her hair was pink, like Misaki's, but that hadn't stopped her from picking on her ruthlessly. Anna. That was her name. So where was her little blue haired companion? Nonoko? Something like that.

Misaki struggled to remember why she had been so mean to the two girls. They were friends of Mikan, she remembered. But that wasn't why she was mean to them. Then it struck Misaki like a lightening bolt of horror: there was no reason. They'd done absolutely nothing to deserve it.

"You weren't _that _ugly, but yeah, you were pretty bad," Tsubasa said, following where Misaki's gaze went.

"I think I should atone," Misaki said thoughtfully. Before Tsubasa could put a single word it, Misaki walked up to the group of people who were slowly pushing Anna to dissolve into tears.

"Misaki!" Luna said cheerfully.

"Bitch," Misaki said shortly. Everyone froze. Misaki and Luna hadn't been close, but Misaki hadn't said anything directly offensive.

"What?" Luna asked, eyes wide open.

"You are a bitch. An ugly one, too. You're also stupid, ridiculous, and a generally horrible person. So are the rest of you. Now you should all just lay off because I've been in a particularly violent mood lately and Luna, by god I swear if you like your face the way it is—not that I understand why you would—it would be in your best interest to leave Anna alone," Misaki snapped. Silence followed her rant. Not only had Misaki just insulted someone loudly and drawn attention, she had also said something that was more than three words. Several people looked around to see if the rest of the apocalypse was following closely.

Misaki grabbed Anna's wrist and dragged the stunned girl away. Tsubasa was on the ground, roaring with hysterical laughter. Tears poured down his face and the poor boy was clutching his stomach.

"Well, now don't die there," Misaki said huffily. She released Anna with a sigh.

"T-t-t-t-thanks…." Anna stuttered.

"Look, Anna, I'm sorry I was mean to you. I really am," Misaki said tiredly, looking directly at Anna. That was also new. There always seemed to be something interesting about the ground when Misaki as speaking to someone. Anna's eyes widened considerably.

"It's fine, don't worry about it," she said quickly.

"I think you have atoned, Misaki," Tsubasa said from his place on the ground. He was still laughing and Misaki shot him a look that clearly threatened a kick in the face. The bell rang and with one last grateful smile, Anna ran off toward her class. Tsubasa slowly got up and the pair made their way to their own class.

"That felt pretty good," Misaki admitted.

"Just wait till you get into a cat fight," Tsubasa said. Misaki wondered if it was possible to laugh yourself to death. If it was, Tsubasa wasn't going to last much longer.

"Seriously?"

"Nah. You'd throw books instead of punches."

"You sure 'bout that?"

"Very."

Misaki raised and eye brow before punching Tsubasa in the stomach.

"That felt pretty good, too," she said smugly.

"There's somebody I want you to meet," Tsubasa said thoughtfully after he'd recovered from the punch.

"Who?" Misaki asked suspiciously. Before answering, Tsubasa thought hard. He could lie and not take her to see him. After all, seeing him would include an explanation, a story Tsubasa didn't enjoy reliving. But Misaki deserved to know. Tsubasa almost found himself wanting her to know. He made his choice.

"An old friend of mine," he said simply. He knew what her next words would be.

"Does this old friend have a name?"

"Kaname."

* * *

Yay! Next chapter includes sorrowful story! Prepare a box of tissues! Kidding, kidding! Not that sad. But you're all going to spend restless nights wondering what the whole story with Kaname and Tsubasa is Review!!


	9. Dark Nights And Darker Hearts

**Author's note**: You all got yer tissue boxes? This one's gonna be a real tear-jerker! OK, not really, but if you cry, don't be embarrassed. In fact, you should tell me. It would really make my day.

Also, a side note to the fans of my VK fics: I know I haven't updated for those in, like, a million years, but I'm working on it, I pinky promise. It's just that I have this one more organized and….you know.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Gakuen Alice. I know it's surprising, but I seriously don't.

* * *

**DARK NIGHTS AND DARKER HEARTS by Electric Valentine**

_Questions, burning inside  
I played the scene a thousand times_

* * *

Misaki had an itch. Not an actual itch. A metaphorical one. But Misaki learned that metaphorical itches are much, much worse than real ones. The whole day she waited impatiently for Tsubasa to go into further detail about this Kaname person—which he didn't. Even through detention he looked like he was thinking incredibly hard about a difficult subject.

It reminded Misaki of the way her mother would be when she was creating a design in her mind and trying to figure out how to make it reality. From experience, Misaki had learned it was best to keep quiet. This didn't stop her from staring. He didn't seem to notice, or at least that's what Misaki thought till half way through detention.

"If you want to admit your true love for me, just do it now," he said jokingly and Misaki snorted and threw the textbook from under her desk at him.

"Even if I did, I would _never _be the first to admit it," she declared. Tsubasa smirked.

"Want to make a bet?" he asked, blue eyes twinkling lightly. Misaki wasn't really that surprised at his change in mood. She knew that whatever he'd been thinking on, he'd already figured out in his mind.

"Sure thing," Misaki said, taking the challenge. Dares and bets were definitely her biggest weakness. They shook on it and from the corner of the room, Natsume and Mikan watched idly.

"So you think she's going to tell him that she loves him before he does?" Mikan whispered to Natsume. Natsume rolled his eyes.

"Why would I care?" he asked.

"You don't."

"Isn't that implied?"

"Tell me anyway," Mikan insisted. Natsume weighed his chances and caved.

"No way is she going to tell him first. Besides, they need to actually figure it out first, Polka," he sighed.

"NATSUME, YOU PERVERT!" Mikan shrieked and everyone jumped.

Natsume said nothing, just closed his eyes. Mikan continued to rant and eventually, Natsume flicked out a lighter and waved it threateningly near Mikan's skirt. The girl jumped back to a safe distance before starting her fit again.

Misaki lost all attention in the conversation near the same time as Tsubasa.

"So are you going to tell me what you've been thinking about all day?" Misaki asked curiously.

"How'd you know I was thinking?"

"You had The Look," Misaki explained poorly. Tsubasa blinked then grinned.

"Whatever you say then, Pinky," he chuckled. "I'll tell you."

"Seriously?" Misaki hadn't expected it to be so easy. Apparently, her thoughts were written all over her face.

"Easy peasy lemon squeezy," he replied smoothly. Then he hesitated. "But are you sure you want to hear it?"

Misaki stared at him incredulously.

"It's been bugging me _all day long!" _she all but exploded. Tsubasa laughed, causing Misaki to shoot him a dark look. He grinned apologetically.

"You sure?" he teased. He was met with Misaki's bag colliding with his face.

"Spill," was all she growled.

Tsubasa bit his lip, looking as if he was trying to pick out the right words.

* * *

_He was wasted out of his mind. That was why he barely remembered anything. And why he puked all over the hospital floor (or at least that's what he told himself). _

_Kaname was his "designated driver." The deal was that Tsubasa would go to parties, get high, get wasted, get laid, whatever he felt like doing. And when he needed to get home, somebody would call Kaname who would pick up his sad piece of a friend. Tsubasa would wonder—ever once in a while—why Kaname didn't hate him. Kaname was too nice for his own good. _

_Anyway, it had been a night like no other: Tsubasa was drunk at some random person's party and Kaname was going to pick him up. Kaname never came. _

_He didn't get the call till the next day. Good thing too, because he was pretty sober at that point. The first words he heard that morning shot through his hang over like a bullet:_

_"Kaname is in the hospital. He got in a car accident last night."_

_Tsubasa blanked. He got someone he didn't know to give him a ride he would never remember to the hospital. Kaname's mother met him in the lobby. Somehow the woman managed to look past his messy hair, messed up clothes and breath that smelled like alcohol. She was like Kaname: too nice. _

_"I'm sorry," he tried to say, although it didn't quite sound like that. Regardless, she grabbed his and hugged him tightly anyway. _

_Tsubasa wished she would slap him across the face instead. Her lack of anger made it all the more worse. _

_"It's not your fault," she whispered. _

_But it was. If he hadn't gone to the party, Kaname wouldn't have ever needed to leave his house. He wouldn't be here. But Tsubasa didn't say anything at all. _

_"How is he?"_

_"Pretty messed up. He's in surgery right now."_

_Then came the tears. The horrible, horrible tears as the two cried silently for the person they loved most in the world. They both would've given anything to be in his place, but they couldn't. _

_Hours later—although it seemed like years—the doctor came out. _

_"He'll live," the doctor said. But his voice was too grave for the news to be all good. "But he suffered severe damage and his body probably wont ever function properly again."_

_Tsubasa closed his eyes and blocked out the big fancy words the nameless doctor was using. _

His body probably wont ever function properly again.

Ever.

Function.

Properly.

Again.

_He knew it that moment that he would never get over this. He would always blame himself because it was (however indirectly) his fault. _

_The doctor left and Kaname's mother embraced Tsubasa once again. The hug was warm and loving, but it crushed Tsubasa like he was sinking toward the ocean floor, pressure building up until he felt completely broken. Breathing was hard. The boy pushed away and threw up, hating himself all the more. _

_So wrong. Life was so wrong. All the worst things seemed to happen to the best of people, he noticed darkly. _

_"I'll never do it again," he mumbled. _

_"Vomiting is perfectly natural," the nurse beside him said, completely unaware he was speaking more of his current lifestyle. Maybe that was for the better. _

_"One last thing I need to do," Tsubasa said softly. He couldn't forget his decision. He would remind himself to stay clean, be a good boy. Relatively. The next day, he got a tattoo on his face. Good lord it hurt like a bitch, but that just made it all the more better. He could suffer along with his friend. _

_He was quite amused that his parents had no reaction to the star on his face. Not surprised though. _

_Kaname's father laughed for the first time since his son had been put in critical condition by a drunk driver. Kaname's mother let out a little shriek and touched his face about a million times. They loved this boy who wasn't even their real son, even though he had been the cause for the near death of their own. _

_Amazing. Some people were truly amazing. _

_Tsubasa counted down the days till Kaname could have visitors. When he could, he was there. _

_"What happened to your face?" Kaname asked, sounding completely bewildered. Tsubasa laughed. He laughed and laughed and cried and cried and sat on Kaname's bed. The talked and Tsubasa explained his promise. Kaname smiled. _

_"I knew that would happen," he'd said triumphantly. _

_"That you'd be hit by a drunk driver, I would sink into depression and get a tattoo?" Tsubasa asked, completely bewildered. Kaname grinned. _

_"I knew you'd come out of your crazy party life," he clarified. "Why do you think I stuck around?"_

_"'Cause you like me so much," Tsubasa replied. Kaname laughed. _

_Kaname and his parents had forgiven Tsubasa—well, they hadn't ever blamed him in the first place. But Tsubasa would look at his reflection every day and stare at the star. Every. Single Day. _

_It had been a dark night when Kaname almost died. But Tsubasa's heart had been darker. _

_

* * *

_

At this point, everyone in the detention room was listening. Natsume let out a low whistle.

"It was in the paper, but my parents spent some money to keep my name out," Tsubasa said with a shrug. "Wouldn't want to ruin their reputation."

"Now I _really _want to meet this kid," Misaki said. Tsubasa surveyed her for a moment.

"So you aren't going to beat me up? Or ignore me? Or, I dunno, something?" he asked.

Misaki shook her head.

"Unless you want me to," she added, raising her eyebrows.

"You can all leave now," Jinno said from the doorway. He had been listening as well. Peachy.

Everyone left quickly as possible. To Tsubasa's surprise, nobody glared. No glances that questioned his sanity. Interesting.

"So we're going to go see Kaname now, right?" Misaki said quietly when they were outside.

Tsubasa nodded.

"Where is he?"

"Hospital. Again."

"I see," Misaki said, realizing why Tsubasa had needed to go see him. Sadness took over the blue eyes that were usually full of smiles. Misaki was bothered by this and did something that shocked both her and Tsubasa:

she hugged him. She actually _hugged _him.

"I knew you wanted me," Tsubasa said with a smile.

"Keep dreaming," Misaki snorted. Mission accomplished.

Tsubasa glanced at the sky. Yeah, it had been a dark night. And yes his heart had been darker than that.

_But not so much anymore, _he thought.

* * *

So. How many of you cried? Joking, joking! Now…review!


	10. Friends

That's right I'm still alive. I haen't updated this story in so long because I'm trying to keep it evenly updated with my other ones and this one is going smoother than the others. Henceforth, I surrender and will update More To This when I have the chapter ready instead of waiting. Anyway.....after a billion year delay, here it is!

**

* * *

**

**FRIENDS by Band of Skulls**

_All my life I've been searching for something  
Something I can put my finger on  
Maybe I've been living for the weekend  
Maybe I've been living for this cyber soul  
Every Friday just about midnight  
All my problems seem to disappear  
Everyone that I miss when I'm distant  
Everybody's here_

* * *

"You're late," the nurse said, her lips curved up in a slight smile. The warmth in her eyes glowed and Tsubasa grinned.

"I brought a friend," he said as an excuse. The old nurse laughed.

"And I thought Kaname was your only friend," she chuckled.

"He was until a couple days ago," Tsubasa admitted.

"Not true," Misaki insisted. "I didn't count myself as your friend till yesterday!" Tsubasa snorted.

"But I knew you wanted me the whole time," he said with a smirk. Misaki looked around in hopes of finding something relatively heavy.

"You know the room number," the nurse said in hopes of distracting the pink haired girl from killing the boy. It worked and Tsubasa cast the nurse a thankful smile before pulling Misaki up to room 204 (**A/N: Hey….that's where my English class is….. 0.O**) where he'd spent more time in than he did his own house.

"Kaname!" he said loudly.

"Tsubasa!" a light voice called back.

Misaki and Tsubasa walked into the room toward a bed that was occupied by the blond haired boy with a bright smile not unlike Tsubasa's, Misaki noted. Suddenly, the boy's face crumbled.

"They've taken my projects away!" he wailed. Misaki raised her eyes brows at Tsubasa.

"Kaname has a freakish obsession with making little cuddly toys, but it takes a lot of his energy so the nurses and doctors take away his stuff," he said quietly and Misaki bit her lip.

"That's..." she said, searching for any possible way to finish her sentence, coming up with nothing.

"Oh, who is _this_?" Kaname asked, noticing Misaki for the first time and forgetting completely about his stolen projects.

"This is Misaki. Misaki this is Kaname," Tsubasa said and moved slightly to the left, leaving Misaki to face Kaname full on. She couldn't find it in her heart to feel anything but a magnetic pull to this boy. He had something so light and happy and almost supernatural about him that it wouldn't have surprised her if he could befriend mean, kung-fu, scary bears that liked to beat up on girls like Mikan. She knew one thing for sure: Kaname didn't deserve to be stuck in this bed.

"Have you gone best friend shopping without me, Tsubasa?" asked Kaname, surveying Misaki curiously.

"Hardly," Tsubasa replied with a light smile.

"Well, you can never have enough friends," Kaname concluded, now looking at Tsubasa with a playful smile. "Especially when your name should mean trouble."

Misaki was startled that she had come to the same exact assumption not to long ago. Kaname fixed his warm gaze on Misaki again. "Keep him safe," he said softly.

"I'll try, but sometimes I wonder if I need to go and get myself a full body metal suit," Misaki grumbled. Kaname laughed.

"I'm only doing you a favor," Tsubasa scoffed. "Sure you might get a scratch or two, but it can't be anything worse than what you put me through."

As if to prove his point, Misaki elbowed him in the stomach. Kaname laughed again and Misaki's lips twitched up in a smile. She enjoyed the company of this Kaname, oh yes she did.

"I really need to show you guys something," Kaname said chuckling. He grabbed a remote that had been sitting on his bedside table and pressed the mute button. The TV's sound came to life to show a short video of Misaki attacking Tsubasa with the gardening can. It played over and over again and when it finally ended, the reporter started spewing some crap about speculation over whether the two teenagers were in love ("a star-crossed relationship with their mother's being rival designers!") or self defense ("it does look like he was making moves on her"). There were more, but Misaki couldn't hear anything over Tsubasa's laughter, creating a wonderful orchestra with Kaname's chuckles.

"My mother is going to simply_ die,_" she declared finally before dissolving into a fit of giggles.

"For the record, I was only joking when I suggested that it was going to end up on the news," Tsubasa said, still laughing.

"So what are you two planning on saying?" Kaname asked.

"Well, I think the star-crossed lovers theory is quite believable—" Tsubasa started by was stopped by Misaki's dark look. He coughed. "Or not."

"We won't say anything. They'll think what they like," Misaki said. "It's not like anyone would believe 'I just got annoyed and decided he needed to get his head smashed in'."

"I don't know about that," Kaname said wisely and Misaki grinned.

"Hey now," Tsubasa protested weakly.

"Deal with it Lover Boy," Kaname suggested lightly.

"Oh the joys of friendship," Tsubasa grumbled. Kaname laughed so hard he started to cough. He waved his hand airily as if to ward off the concern. Tsubasa rolled his eyes. He pressed a button.

"Oi, nursey! Kaname here is coughing again," he said loudly.

"On it," the nurse of the other end replied.

"'Nursey?'" Misaki asked, raising her eyebrows. Tsubasa shrugged.

"They got over it eventually," he said easily. Misaki snorted.

"She's going to kick you guys out," Kaname warned.

"I'm going to give you two an extra minute," Misaki said. "I'll be just outside." She waved at Kaname with a smile before walking out the door.

As soon as she was gone, Kaname let out a low whistle.

"One word: whipped," he said.

"Who?"

"You."

"Me?"

"Yes."

"No."

"Whipped," Kaname repeated triumphantly.

"You keep telling yourself that," Tsubasa said, struggling to not freak out like a ten-year-old with his first crush.

"Better watch the media," Kaname snickered. Tsubasa wondered if he'd have time to murder Kanama and get out before the nurse came in. No such luck.

"Out kid," the large woman said as she waddled in.

"Yes ma'am," Tsubasa said with an overly done salute.

"You know I'm right," Kaname shouted just before Tsubasa closed the door.

He was wrong. He had to be wrong. He _was _wrong…right?

* * *

Is he wrong? I doubt it.

FRIENDS by Band of Skulls


	11. Swimming In The Flood

I'm sick. My sinuses are stuffy. So stuffy that my left nostril feels like it's having a baby. Um…after that awkward moment of too much information, lemme just say that I'm very happy with the reviews I got for the last chapter! Mucho thankies guys!!! You make my face feel better! Again a little bit too much information…just ignore me, OK?

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gakuen Alice. If I did, it would be more Tsubasa/Misaki centered…I think.

* * *

**SWIMMING IN THE FLOOD by Passion Pit**

_What can I do?  
The river's overrun  
We're swimming in a flood, you know?  
I thought I felt your touch  
But the water's rising up_

* * *

Misaki bit her lip. Again.

"You can tell me, you know," Tsubasa grumbled. He leaned against a tree in the hospital grounds and Misaki moved next to him.

"Tell you what?" Misaki asked, immediately on defense. Tsubasa grinned and a bad feeling swept over Misaki. Whoops.

"Either you really want to say something, or you're purposely biting your lip in a tantalizing way in an effort to sedu—"

"Don't finish that sentence if you want to have children some day."

"Sure thing," Tsubasa squeaked, knowing that she meant it completely. He recovered quickly. "So are you going to tell me?"

"Huh?"

"Don't play dumb," Tsubasa snorted, rolling his eyes. Misaki cursed his ability to notice things when she didn't want him to.

"What if I _want _to play dumb?" Misaki retorted.

"So you admit to playing dumb?"

Misaki let out a parade of profanities that made up for her lack of them in previous years. Again with him noticing things. Boys were supposed to be oblivious!

"You can tell me," Tsubasa repeatedly more gently. It reminded Misaki of the time Mikan had tried to coax a squirrel out of its home. In the end, the squirrel had tried to attack Mikan, much to Natsume's amusement.

"I was thinking of when I was a little kid," Misaki said slightly evasively.

"I bet that must've been interesting," Tsubasa noted. Misaki closed her pink eyes and memories flashed.

Red stains on the carpet. They looked like blood but no, no, no they weren't. Wine, her father said after he patched them both up. But the stain…the smell...the glass.

"Fascinating," Misaki said and for the first time in her life, the need to tell someone else swept over her in a wave of unexpected emotion. Tsubasa didn't say anything. Didn't even look at her expectantly. It was like he just…_knew._ He wasn't going to make her tell him, he was only offering an ear.

_Damn it all…_

"Want to listen?" she asked softly.

"Only if you want to talk," he said and Misaki was gone, back to places she spent most of her time trying to forget.

* * *

_"Daddy…does Mommy not love me?" Misaki asked quietly. Her father stared down at his sad eight-year-old daughter who was on the brink of tears. _

_"No, Mommy is just…she's really sick," he said in an attempt at an explanation. _

_"But she'll be fine in a few days, right?" she asked. One glance at her father's face crushed the thought. _

_"It's a little bit more than that," her father replied. Misaki touched the mark on her arm where her mother's iron grip had been. _

_"Does it make her not love me?" It would only make sense. Her mother was fine at first, but then something weird started. _

_"Misaki, your mother will always love you," the man promised quietly. An angry scream echoed through the house. _

_"Get back here!" the monster roared and Misaki winced. _

_"Stay here," her father ordered and walked down the pearly white carpeted stairs. Voices snapped at each other. Misaki wanted to cover her ears, but her body was frozen still. She heard snippets of the fight. It was her fault. Her teacher had called about Misaki rolling in the mud. Mountain Monstrosity had exploded and her father struggled to protect Misaki from it all. But she wasn't deaf to any of it. _

_"We need to talk to her about this behavior!"_

_"It might be a little late for that!" her father snapped. Misaki inched out of her room and watched the fight from the balcony. _

_"I don't know what you're talking about," the monster raged. _

_"Hurting her isn't going to make her want to talk to you," her father said sharply. More screams and arguing. Loud sounds of breaking things. Misaki crawled toward the stairs, hidden by the blanket of her parents' oblivion. They were too busy yelling to see her as she creeped her way down the steps. The carpet used to feel so soft...._

This is all my fault.

_Tears fell at words in her mind and the frail girl pulled herself into a small ball. Breaking slowly, bit by bit. _

_"I HATE YOU!"_

_Misaki glanced up to see her mother reach back into the cabinet where the glass things were kept. The monster seized them, one by one throwing them in every direction. One shattered against the wall near Misaki and glass fell down, some pieces coming close to her. She closed her eyes and let it all fade away. The flood came crashing down at last._

_The next morning she was in bed, tucked up tight with two band-aides on her arm. Her father was sleeping by her door like a knight, hiding the princess away from the beast. _

_"Oh," Misaki breathed and the pointless tears that she didn't understand returned again. Her father jolted up and stared only for a moment. Quickly he was by her side, trying to help despite the fact that she was beyond comfort._

_"She hates me," she sobbed hysterically. _

_"Not you, sweetheart, she can't hate you. It's me, just me," her father chanted over and over again. _

_"Where is she?"_

_"She left last night. I don't know where she went."_

_"Is she coming home?"_

_"I don't know, Misaki. I don't know." Misaki didn't want her to which made her feel horrible. She was a terrible daughter. _

_Hand-in-hand they walked downstairs to find breakfast. Misaki stared at the living room with sick fascination. Glass was stuck in the carpet all around the room and there were speckles of red. _

_"What—"_

_"Wine."_

Lie. Lielielielielielielielie lying liar. Why lie to me?

_Misaki remained silent as she ate the toast on cinnamon bread with sugar on top that her father made for her. There was a loud sound as the door opened and the monster strode in. She walked into the kitchen and set down a bag of groceries. _

_"Get someone to clean up the living room," she said calmly. _

_Silence followed. After a long pause, her mother spoke up again. _

_"What are you two staring at?" she demanded. No answer came so she walked away. She acted like nothing happened. It became a cycle. There would be a fight—although Misaki and her father rarely fought back—and the monster would leave. She would return and things would go back to normal. Secretly Misaki wished the monster would admit to the fight. Because that would mean the monster was accepting that she was doing wrong. Then maybe, maybe, maybe they could all move along._

_"We have to keep everything quiet, Misaki," the monster explained "otherwise there will be people all around the house. They'll separate all of us and they won't leave us alone." So Misaki remained quiet. _

_A year later, her father would leave for work as quickly as possible. Like debris from a flood being whisked away, they all grew distant. Misaki decided to become what her mother wanted so badly to keep things calm. She went on like a robot, following commands without words. She didn't cry anymore. She wouldn't let herself cry anymore. She wouldn't let herself be vulnerable to anyone. Ever. _

_Silently, Misaki drowned, unable—or maybe not wanting—to find to surface. She would forget. She wanted to forget._

_She forgot._

_Until she remembered. _

* * *

By then she was shaking slight and gripping herself, eyes wide. Tsubasa counted the tears that fell. One tear, two tears, three tears...it got to ten before he snapped. He grabbed her and pulled her as tightly to her as humanly possible. She didn't move away. Of course it probably wouldn't have mattered if she did because Tsubasa would hold her, keep her in one piece no matter what. For a reason he wasn't ready to ponder on, watching her crumble was more painful than it should've been if his plans were going accordingly. Probably not a good sign, but in the moment it didn't matter.

Silence fell over them because for the first time in a long time, Misaki actually, truly, really cried and for the first time in a long time, Tsubasa actually, truly, really cared that someone was hurting other than Kaname or himself.

"Thank you," Misaki said finally.

"For what?"

"Letting me babble and blubber." She smiled slightly.

"Any time, Misaki. Any time." He meant it.

Her tears had stopped, but he hadn't let her go. Misaki closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She was ready.

She surfaced. At long last, she was swimming in the flood instead of drowning in it.

* * *

Well...that turned out differently than I planned. Venting is now my new favorite thing ever. I just had a realization! I have a weird obsession with metaphors! Sorry about that.... Anyway, you all know you want to review and tell me about how corny and cliché this chapter was. So go ahead and do it. It'll make me want to update faster and hey, maybe next time I won't use corny metaphors that are totally cliché! Or maybe I will……Yeah, I probably will.


	12. City in a Snow Globe

**Author Note: where have I been, you ask? I've been writing a book, I say. And you say, you? write a book? Yeah right dude. And I tell you, no seriously! To which you reply, whatever. Now hurry up and write. To which I start because I'm so thankful nobody killed me. That's when you turn around and kill me with Two-Ton Tundra. You realize that since I'm dead I can't write, so you bring me back to life and kill me a couple more times before sitting me down at my computer and ordering me write. **

**In other words: I've been distracted, but now that I'm story-less, I have gotten by brain back on track and I'm very sorry and here is chapter twelve FINALLY.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice. Oh, I forgot the pain of having to mention that. But I use this computer so much that it's practically mine now.**

* * *

**CITY IN A SNOW GLOBE by Before Their Eyes**

_And in my dreams  
I've tried running but I can't  
Escape from you in my memories_

* * *

"Do you ever feel really…trapped here?" Misaki asked as she walked down the street with Tsubasa. He chewed thoughtfully on the piece of grass he had in his mouth before answering.

"Sometimes," he admitted. "Sometimes I hate being stuck in this place. But I've got stuff here. There's Kaname. There's you now, too." He turned to face her as if to ask 'why do you wanna know?'

"Just wondering," Misaki said with a shrug. Tsubasa snorted.

"Misaki, you don't _just wonder_," he told her. "I've figured that much out about you." Misaki scowled. She searched for the nearest heavy object, but all she saw was a giant mailbox and she didn't think she had the strength to pick it up, much less raise it high enough to smash it over his head.

"Do too!" she growled. Tsubasa gave her That Look (something entirely different from The Look). It was the look that told her he didn't believe her so she might as well come clean.

"I just think…" she struggled for words and Tsubasa waited patiently. "Well, I feel like I'm trapped in a bubble."

"What kind of bubble?" Tsubasa pressed. The weird part was that he found himself genuinely interested in this. Although he was genuinely interested in Misaki so maybe it wasn't so weird after all.

"I had a dream," Misaki sighed.

"If you tell me you want to be a princess, I might have no choice but to laugh," Tsubasa warned her and she elbowed him.

"I mean a _real _dream," she said exasperatedly. "Like zombie pig sleepy dream."

"Can't say I get the zombie pig part, but I know what you mean," Tsubasa said with a snort. "Now please explain the dream."

"In my dream, I was out of here," Misaki said. "I was in the country, you know? Where I always wanted to be. But then my mom was all around me, closing in on me. And then I was back in the city and every time I tried to escape, this glass stuff was in my way. _She_ was, too."

Tsubasa was quiet.

"Almost like snow globe?" he guessed. Misaki brightened up.

"Exactly!" she exclaimed. "The city was in a snow globe!"

"Freakishly symbolic," Tsubasa commented.

"You're the symbol freak," Misaki reminded him. He shrugged, flashing her a quick smile that made the day brighten considerably.

"Too right I am," he said wisely. "Which is exactly why I know the plan I'm formulating in my mind is friggin genius and you should listen to it without question."

Misaki raised her eyebrows at him. Tsubasa tended to drag her all around the place by the hand, something that turned the media on like blood did to sharks. It pissed off her mother which was why she let him get away with it.

"Take me away, jerk," she said with a slight smile. He winked and took her hand before dragging her to the dollar store.

He reached into his pocket, pulled out a handful of money and counted it silently.

"Perfect," he said sounding quite pleased with himself. He seized a little plastic basket before wandering down the aisles, mumbling to himself.

Misaki chuckled quietly. They were attracting more attention than she would've liked not so long ago, but now she just thought it was funny.

"Here we go!" Tsubasa said cheerfully. Misaki looked up and her jaw dropped.

Snow globes.

Christmas themed, Halloween themed, Easter themed, birthday, graduation, unicorn, it went on and on and on and on (kind of like the Journy song-only less cool).

She watched, completely lost as Tsubasa put all of them in his basket. Soon, the dollar store had no more snow globes to sell.

Smiling smugly, in on his own private joke, Tsubasa wrapped his pinky finger around Misaki's before pulling her to the counter.

The clerk stared at them, both shocked at the company and their purchases, but rang them up all the same. It took ages, but they made it out fine.

"OK," Misaki said. "You bought your snow globes and blew all the money you had. Now what?" Tsubasa grinned and didn't answer her question, purposely infuriating her.

Just like him to do something like that.

* * *

Misaki spent the whole trip asking Tsubasa just what the hell his genius plan was, but it was like talking to the air. Air is very antisocial and rarely replies.

"Here we are," Tsubasa said in the tone of the cat that had just devoured the canary in one swallow.

It was the huge building he'd brought her the very first time. Misaki felt the rush of fire when she remembered what it was like being close to the edge, having the world finally brought into focus. She remembered what it was like having herself finally complete.

"We going to the top again?" Misaki asked.

"Aren't you glad you aren't wearing those beasts you call shoes?" Tsubasa asked.

"Very," Misaki said heavily before following her best friend up the endless staircase.

The wind blew around them gently, a whisper in their world. It was nice and Misaki almost said nothing. But the suspense had been eating her up and anyone who thought Misaki was patient deserved a good kick to the head. Hopefully it would set their brain straight.

"So now what?" Misaki asked.

"Pick one," Tsubasa said, gesturing to the large pile of snow globes. Misaki pointed at the one that had a short goblin thing in it. Upon closer inspection, Misaki realized it was supposed to be a fairy.

It might be, she thought, if the artist could be diagnosed with ADD.

Tsubasa picked it up and chucked it over the edge.

Misaki jumped.

"Breaking barriers," Tsubasa said as his way of explanation. He picked up a snow globe with purple sparkles and a miniature reconstruction of one of his father's buildings. His eyes hardened slightly before he threw the damn thing as hard as he could. He watched the empty space for a moment before smiling and turning back to Misaki.

"You sure we should do this?" Misaki asked. Tsubasa grinned.

"It's _symbolism_, Misaki," he said with a low laugh. "Try."

Misaki picked up the nearest snow globe, not even looking at what it was before tossing it over the side of the building. She rushed to the edge to see what happened and could barely make out pieces of shattered glass on the ground.

Her heart beat accelerated and her breathing grew rapid.

"This was the best idea you've ever had," she told Tsubasa excitedly. He grinned and tossed her another.

* * *

It took an hour to get rid of all the snow globes. By that time they were sitting together a foot away from the edge and there was one left. It was the biggest and had a tiny replica of the city.

"Our friendship should get married," Tsubasa said suddenly.

"Excuse me?" Misaki asked. Tsubasa laughed.

"Let's have a little wedding," he said. "Be friends for ever and all that stuff."

"Sure," Misaki said. In all honesty, she was so exhilarated, Tsubasa could've proposed they actually get married and she would've said yes. Maybe.

"Then we gotta do it _right_," Tsubasa said firmly. He proceeded to push Misaki up so she was standing and move himself so he was on one knee.

"Seriously?" Misaki asked laughing.

"Misaki?" he began. "Will your friendship marry mine so they eternally be together and all that stuff that comes with getting married?" Misaki snorted.

"Yes, Tsubasa," she said. "Of course it's yes."

"Sweet!" he cheered and grabbed the large snow globe. Misaki sank down on her knees so she was beside him.

She put her hand around the snow globe, her fingers brushing his.

"OK then," he said. "I'm not really sure how to do this, so we'll just chuck this thing over the edge and consider our friendships married."

Misaki snickered at the ridiculousness of the whole situation but nodded all the same.

"One," Tsubasa whispered.

"Two," Misaki breathed.

"THREE!" they shouted together and tossed the snow globe over. It joined its shattered brethren in pieces on the ground and Misaki felt free.

She could barely see the thing crack and break, but it did and the city fell loose.

The city wasn't in the snow globe anymore.

And neither was she. One glance at Tsubasa told her he felt the same. At least she thought that was why he looked like the best thing in the world had just happened to him.

* * *

Phew. I have no idea where the sort-of wedding came from. Maybe a hint for the future ;) Probably not though...anyway, I'll try to update faster and now that I have my pet project out of the way, I guess I'll be able to...over and out, off to write some more!


	13. Crack the Shutters

**A/n: **I know, I know. I should be working on all my fics...but the farther I get into this one the more I love it and favor it. Don't worry though, I'm working on the other's. It just that I've kind of had this chapter written from the beginning, but at the same time kind of not. I knew what was going to happen, but I changed some stuff because it added up differently. Mostly I knew I was going to use this song because it's one of my favorites. Anyway, I'm fond of stories with seventeen to nineteen chapters, so this one will probably end pretty soon. That's all.

**Disclaimer**: You guys do know by now that I don't own Gakuen Alice, right?

* * *

**CRACK THE SHUTTERS by Snow Patrol**

_I could sit for hours finding new ways_

_To be awed each minute_

'_Cause the daylight seems to want you _

_Just as much as I want you. _

* * *

After the wedding, Misaki and Tsubasa remained on the roof, laughing, talking and rejoicing at everything. For the second time, Misaki watched in complete awe as the sun set over the city, burning the sky brilliant shades of warm colors.

"So pretty," she sighed and leaned against Tsubasa.

"You should see it really early in the morning," he told her.

"You've _slept_ here?" she asked startled. Tsubasa lifted his lips slightly at her surprise.

"More than a few times," he admitted. "Just as an experiment. Or if my window was locked when I came home late." Misaki laughed quietly and Tsubasa prayed she couldn't hear his heart racing faster and faster and faster. He wondered if she was going to give him a heart attack.

Kaname would laugh himself silly if she did, he thought wryly.

"I'd never get up early enough to make it here," Misaki said shaking her head.

"Then stay the night," he offered. Misaki blinked and turned her face up to look at him.

"Here?" she asked.

"Well, yeah," Tsubasa snorted. "Where else?"

"But what if hobos attack me?" Misaki argued. Tsubasa laughed. Not quietly like she had, but really, really laughed.

"The closest thing to a hobo who comes around here is me," he promised. "But don't worry; I'll protect you on the odd chance that a strange thing picks this one night to come wandering around."

Misaki thought this over. Her mom would be pissed. But her mom was _always _pissed so that wouldn't change anything. The hobo deal had been taken care of by Tsubasa. Speaking of which...Had it been anyone else, Misaki realized, she would've jumped up and taken off at a run. But she was actually considering the prospect of spending the night in this abandoned building.

With him.

The answer was obvious.

"Slumber party it is," she declared. Tsubasa grinned.

"Not going to call a parent?" he asked teasingly.

"Couldn't pay me," Misaki told him still smiling brilliantly.

Slowly, the fire of the sky faded and night crawled over, darkening the city. When the stars and moon showed up, Misaki was caught off guard. She was silent for some time, unable to find words.

"The stars aren't this bright when I look at them out my window," she noted as she sat, head craned in an attempt to take in everything at once.

"I didn't think they'd be," Tsubasa said. He was lying on his back, hand behind his head. Misaki didn't notice that his eyes would flicker from the sky to her every so often. She was too lost.

Misaki sighed deeply and leaned back on Tsubasa's chest. She was starting to feel veeeeeerrrryyyyy sleeeeeepppyyyy. Like the hypnotist said on TV.

He willed his breathing to slow which worked, but his heart was back on overdrive. He mentally cursed the moon for being full. Not that the moon was doing anything to him directly. He just need something to curse. But the tired girl didn't notice. She yawned and Tsubasa smiled slightly. Then she nuzzled into his neck and he knew something had to be done before he combusted in more ways that one.

"Up we get," he said and scooped her up. Misaki's eyes flew open, but she didn't move.

"What time is it anyway?" she asked.

"Time for me to get a watch," Tsubasa joked and Misaki collapsed into a heap of giggles. Tsubasa shook his head and said, "If you actually think that's funny, you must be sleep deprived."

Misaki laughed harder, confirming Tsubasa's suspicions.

He had carried her back inside the building when she poked him.

"I...walk," she said softly. Tsubasa found himself rather amused by a sleepy Misaki and wondered when the next time he'd see her like this would be.

Mental slap in the face.

_Probably never. Stop thinking like this. It'll make you stupid. And Kaname would get some satisfaction out of it because that would make him right._

"S'long as you don't fall over," he said. "You seem kinda...confused."

"Won't," Misaki scoffed. More like mumbled, but same thing, right? He would've believed her if not for the fact that normal Misaki would've slammed his face into the ground.

"Whatever you say," he said anyway, knowing that in the morning, Misaki was probably going to pinch him for lifting her off the ground in the slightest and if he dared carry he much farther, she'd throw him off the roof. So he settled for watching her every step on the way down to the third story of the building.

In the third story, there had been a test bedroom and no one had thought to get rid of it when the building was abandoned.

It was what Tsubasa liked to call his room. It had sturdy walls, but no actual flooring. There were spaces for windows with nothing in them so Tsubasa had "improvised" as he graciously put it. There wasn't much in the room. Just a giant mattress he'd seen fall from the roof of some passing family's car and hadn't bothered telling anyone about. It wasn't stealing. It was the golden principle Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers.

Misaki collapsed on the bed the moment she laid eyes on it. Tsubasa watched in respectful awe as her eyelids fluttered closed and her breathing evened to a slow pace within the minute. He'd never seen anyone with such an impressive ability: the ability to fall asleep in a single moment.

He really did wonder what time it was. Not that it mattered. Tsubasa knew it would be a miracle if he could fall asleep at all. He needed to do some serious thinking.

Or maybe he didn't. Maybe he could just accept Kaname's conclusion that he really did...nope. Never mind. Tsubasa sighed to himself and sat down gently next to Misaki. Chances were he'd wake up way before her and she would have no proof that knowing he'd slept beside her.

Hopefully.

He really did want to have children some day.

* * *

"Misaki."

"Later," Misaki mumbled.

"Not if you don't want to miss it."

"I _hate_ school," Misaki growled. Tsubasa tried not to laugh. He gave her credit for being able to growl even barely awake. He gave in and laughed quietly, his hands quivering on Misaki's shoulders that he had been shaking only moments before in an attempt to wake her up.

"No school today," he reminded her gently.

"Then why're you—oh," Misaki opened her eyes fully and blinked herself into a more wakened state. Above her was Tsubasa, smiling slightly, shaking her carefully. She recalled the previous night. Sort of. She remembered deciding to spend the night with him in the building, she remembered the stars, and she remembered that she wanted to see the place in the morning. She sat up and ran her fingers through her hair slowly.

"Morning, beautiful," Tsubasa said biting back a laugh. Misaki stuck her tongue out at him.

"Whatever," was her sleepy reply. She surveyed the room. It was pretty bare, save the comfy bed she was sitting on. There was a hole one of the walls that she guessed was supposed to be a window had the construction come through. There were metal plates that looked like they'd belonged on the roof of a shed once that covered the window like shutters. They were opened a crack and the slightest ray of light was seeping through, lighting up the room if only dimly.

"Open them all the way," Tsubasa told her quietly. He always seemd to know what she was thinking...funny. More compliant than usual due to her curiosity, Misaki made her way to the window. She pushed the metal plates away and lost her breath.

Misaki couldn't see the whole of the city, not like she could on the roof. But what she could see was beautiful. The sky was the faintest of colors, a pastel palette greeting the sun. The sun itself crawled up slowly, a burning orb surrounded by deeper shades of orange and yellow. There was dew from the previous night resting in the trees and on the ledge of the building. The drops were lit up a brilliant golden color and tears sparkled in Misaki's eyes.

It was all she could see.

She was all he could see.

Misaki was glowing, Tsubasa realized. The coming sun reflected on her skin, lighting her up. He'd watched the dawn before. He'd watched it many times and he never got sick of it. But it was nothing, _nothing_ compared to her. Her eyes glittered with tears and he was gone. If Tsubasa ever doubted it before, he was sure of it now: he was falling in love with this girl he'd only known for a couple weeks even though it felt like forever.

_That's not very good_, Tsubasa thought. _But at least Kaname is going to get some serious kicks out of this. _

* * *

My oh my. Kaname, Natsume, and Mikan are so smart. Speaking of Natsume and Mikan...where are they? What will Tsubasa do now? Well…I'm not really sure yet. But I'll figure it out soon.


	14. Crash

**Author's Note: **Yay for quicker updates! It's funny, listening to this song it doesn't seem the fit this chapter. But at the same time...it kind of does. In my mind anyway.

**Disclaimer: **The only thing I own pertaining to this fic is Nurse Helga which isn't really much to be proud of. Gakuen Alice isn't mine. Yet.

* * *

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN:**

**CRASH by Decyfer Down**

_You try to buy some time  
Can't read the signs or the reasons why  
Every single time I could drive in blind  
Can't make up my mind  
I know I'm gonna find my way out_

* * *

Kaname Sono was someone who found himself being easily bored. That was why he was friends with Tsubasa Andou. Tsubasa was always up to something disruptive, idiotic, or generally amusing so all Kaname had to do was simply think about whatever stupid thing Tsubasa had done and _presto_ Kaname was entertained.

Misaki was most definitely the best. With a smile that melted hearts, Kaname remembered the first day Tsubasa had spoken about her. Actually, it had been the dead of night and Tsubasa had come in through the window, but that's a minor detail...

* * *

_"She's so weird, Kaname," Tsubasa said shaking his head. "Misaki is smart, violent, funny...she special. But she just goes along with those people and keeps herself secret."_

_"And what are you going to do about it?" Kaname asked. The question itself wasn't necessary because he knew, he just _knew _Tsubasa was going to be an obnoxious jerk and find a way to force himself into this poor unsuspecting girl's life in order to turn it upside down. _

_"I'm going to be an obnoxious jerk and find some way to force myself into her life and turn it upside down!" Tsubasa declared proudly. Kaname smiled. So predictable. _

_"You seem awfully determined to bring out the girl's true self," Kaname observed. Tsubasa wrinkled his brow. _

_"Stop saying it like that," he ordered. "You make it sound like some little cartoon with magical girls and all that crap." Kaname laughed. _

_"Isn't it?" he asked. _

_"Hardly," Tsubasa said firmly. "I'm going to change her and then I'm going to leave her." Kaname raised his eyebrows and continued sewing the little purple bunny doll he was working on for one of his many female visitors. _

_"What happens if you develop feelings for her?" Kaname asked lightly. Tsubasa laughed a humorless laugh. _

_"Kaname, you know as damn well as I do that I don't care about anyone other than myself and you," he said rather darkly. "I'm not _capable_ of that." _

_"I just have a feeling about this one," Kaname said. _

_He watched his old friend scrutinize him from the chair he sat in. Tsubasa _was_ pretty uncaring. Sure, he had his protective streak and smiled more than your average person. But when it came to being all touchy-feeling and open hearted...not Tsubasa's thing. All the same, Tsubasa paced with a fever when he spoke of this mysterious Misaki and his eyes were blue fire, the likes of which Kaname hadn't seen in, well, forever. _

_"Are you psychic now?" Tsubasa asked, burning eyes scornful. _

_"Don't be a bitter old hag," Kaname scolded cheerfully. "I just think..." he trailed off, unsure of what he really thought. _

_"You think?" Tsubasa pressed. _

_"I think you're going to crash doing this," Kaname finished shortly. "And I can't wait." _

_"I'm Tsubasa Andou," Tsubasa cried jumping up. "I never crash!" Kaname snorted. _

_"Go save your girl," he said. Tsubasa winked and with a sly smile, he scurried out the window just as Nurse Helga threw open the door. _

_"Did I hear that brat?" she growled in her manly voice. _

_"No, Nurse Helga," Kaname said sweetly. With a glare in the direction of the window Helga knew Tsubasa had just escaped out of, the masculine nurse stalked out the door. _

Good luck, Tsubasa, _Kaname thought. _I hope this new girl does a number on you.

* * *

...And here she had. Kaname couldn't help but feel slightly smug. He called it back when he told Tsubasa how whipped he was, but now Tsubasa was facing the music. Sort of.

"What the hell am I going to do?" Tsubasa hissed.

"Do about what?" Kaname asked pleasantly. Tsubasa's jaw dropped.

"Did you not just hear what I said?" he demanded.

"You said you think you're falling in love with Misaki," Kaname replied dutifully.

"And you act like I know exactly what I'm going to do about it!" Tsubasa exclaimed, waving his arms around in desperation.

"And you don't?" Kaname asked, completely bewildered.

"That's exactly why I'm here!" Tsubasa wailed. Kaname considered himself to have been a good friend and he knew Tsubasa felt the same. Besides, the little twerp owed him. Had it been anyone, Kaname probably wouldn't have had the nerve to bust up laughing. But Tsubasa wasn't just anyone.

"Didn't I tell you that you would crash?" he chortled. Tsubasa gritted his teeth.

"Maybe I need to go over what happened again," he said. He knew that he wanted to tell Kaname the story twice just to ensure that it really had happened. With a deep breath, Tsubasa looked back about an hour.

* * *

"I should probably head home," Misaki sighed when she'd finally removed her gaze from the rising sun. "Y'know, tell the rents that I haven't been murdered or kidnapped."

"You can say that I kidnapped you," Tsubasa offered, barely managing to straighten his face and wipe the idiotic, drooling puppy look away before she turned. He was _good. _

"That would make one story for the media," Misaki said thoughtfully as they made their way out of the building. "'Andou boy kidnaps his mother's rival's daughter for the night.'"

"Most genius," Tsubasa agreed with a grin. "Very kinky stuff." Misaki snorted and elbowed him more gently than she would under different circumstances.

"Time to go, Romeo," she said more firmly and they made their way out of the building. The walk was silent most of the way, but Misaki broke it unexpectedly.

"Thanks for kidnapping me and making me stay the night with you," Misaki said softly. Tsubasa blinked. It wasn't like Misaki to be soft like this. That wasn't to say he didn't like it. In fact, he liked it very much and it just made him fall for her all the—crap. He was so screwed. But he couldn't let Misaki know. No friggin way was Tsubasa going to tell her this sweet piece of information. He liked his nose straight thank you very much sir.

"Any time," he said playfully. Misaki smiled at him. She really wasn't helping things. This left Tsubasa in a mix of emotions. On one hand, he'd didn't want her to leave because being around Misaki was the best thing that had ever happened to him. On the other, Tsubasa was discovering his impulse control level was extremely low around her. Good thing he was an exceptional liar and an excellent actor.

Both too soon and not soon enough they arrived at the large house Misaki felt a growing distaste for.

"If I don't die thirty seconds after I walk through that door, we should definitely have more sleepovers in the future," Misaki said with a brilliant smile. OK, that did it.

Barely aware of what he was doing, Tsubasa tugged Misaki to him until there was no space between them. Before she could form even the thought to ask just what the hell he thought he was doing—not that Tsubasa actually would've had much of an answer—he kissed her.

* * *

"And then when you finally pulled away and let her go, your fingers sliding out of her soft hair, you smiled slightly and slipped away," Kaname finished.

"So you _were _paying attention then," Tsubasa said, slightly surprised his fair haired friend had the words verbatim. He'd only told the story twice. Kaname rolled his eyes but the smile didn't leave his face.

"You sound like one hell of a romantic," he commented. Tsubasa slapped a hand to his face.

"She's ruined me," Tsubasa said, words muffled by his hand. "And I haven't been so glad since I found out you were going to live."

"I'm starting to get embarrassed for you," Kaname warned him, his grin that was suited for a maniac unseen by his friend. It vanished into thin air the moment Tsubasa removed his face from his hand and looked up tiredly.

Tsubasa sighed again. "And I _still _don't know what I'm supposed to do about it all."

"That's a first for you," Kaname said, struggling to hide the smirk. Smirking was more Tsubasa's thing.

"This is why I came to you for advice," Tsubasa said. Kaname feigned shock.

"I thought you came to give me a good laugh!" he exclaimed.

"You aren't being very helpful," Tsubasa griped.

Kaname laughed quietly.

"Just be happy about it," he advised. "You're lucky you found this and it would be a shame to let it go to waste." Tsubasa looked at the door where a hoard of squealing fan girls stood, calling for Kaname and shouting him well wishes. Suddenly, Nurse Helga's booming voice echoed through the halls and the girls dispersed.

"You found love here?" Tsubasa asked curiously.

"Maybe," Kaname said with a wink.

"Please tell me it isn't Nurse Helga," Tsubasa said with a straight face. A moment of silence passed before both boys burst into hysterical laughter.

"No, no it isn't Nurse Helga, as much as she wishes," Kaname assured him. "Now get out of here and go tell Misaki." Another thought occurred to Tsubasa.

"But then I'll lose the bet," he complained. Kaname was struck dumb.

"Stop being a wimp and _do it_!" Kaname ordered. Tsubasa was slightly startled by the firm, sharp tone Kaname had since he'd never used it on him before.

"But—"

"Nurse Helga!" Kaname wheezed loudly. "Tsubasa is being an annoyance! Please violently remove him from the hospital premises!"

The oaf-like nurse marched into the room and was about to drag Tsubasa out by the ear when he swiftly moved to the side.

"Way to be dramatic, Kaname," he said rolling his eyes. "Off to go lose the bet."

Kaname Sono was someone who found himself being easily bored. That was why he was friends with Tsubasa Andou—and now Misaki Harada. They were very, very entertaining people, especially when crashing.

* * *

Gotta love Nurse Helga...What's Misaki doing during all of this? Find out next time. Why have Mikan and Natsume been so cruelly neglected? Find out...uh, eventually. I promise I've got a whole scene written out for them which'll come later. For now just review!


	15. Reverse This Curse

**I know it's been, like, months since I updated, and I have full intentions on using school as an excuse. However, I've spent an appalling amount of time watching Degrassi (Eli! I love him! Helmet hair just works for him, okay, Dad?) and it has reminded me that I have stuff to write! Alright, so I actually started looking up Degrassi fanfiction and felt bad that I was on FF and not updating so here I am!**

**

* * *

**

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN:**

**REVERSE THIS CURSE by Escape The Fate**

_One last chance to reverse this curse,  
You stole my heart but I had it first.  
And now I see you've got something to prove,  
And nothing to lose so let me tell you the truth.  
So, this goes, out to, the ones that fall in love,  
And to, the girl, that filled my dark._

_

* * *

_

To say that Misaki was surprised would be the sure winner of Understatement of the Year. Saying that she was _really _surprised would be another understatement. To say that Misaki was completely and utterly in a delightful state of shock as she walked into the house would be pretty accurate.

The whole scene kept replaying in her head repeatedly, befuddling her more and more each time. She wasn't even completely sure _what_ happened_._ One minute she was talking to him, the next minute he was kissing her. Absentmindedly, Misaki brushed her finger across her lips. Quickly she shook her head, blinking repeatedly until she was able to actually think like a normal human being.

"I saw you with him before." Misaki jumped and whipped around as her mother slid out from the shadows. Misaki blinked. It actually didn't surprise her that her mother could be such a creeper.

"That's...cool," Misaki said. What was she supposed to say?

"I saw him kiss you, too," her mother said, a slightly hysterical edge to her voice.

"He's a pretty good kisser," Misaki blurted out with lack of better things to say.

"Do you love him?"

Well. She sure didn't see that one coming. That was an interesting question now that she thought about it. Misaki had known Tsubasa for almost a month. Even if she honestly, truly believed in love, she didn't think a month was long enough to actually fall for someone. Then again, since Tsubasa had showed up in her life, weirder things had happened. Misaki sighed and closed her eyes, leaning against the wall. Did she love him? Misaki frowned, still refusing to open her eyes. Wasn't it supposed to take years to fall for somebody?

His smile danced across her closed eyelids, his twinkling eyes filling the darkness. Something burned in her chest, squeezing painfully.

Apparently not. Apparently it _was_ possible to fall for someone in a month.

"If I answer that," Misaki said wryly, "I lose the bet."

"You do!" The words come out completely outraged. Misaki blinked.

"It isn't like I married him or any—wait." Her lips pulled into a frown. "Our friendship got married. Does that count?"

"Yes!" her mother cried furiously, ignoring the fact that the sentence alone didn't make sense in the least.

"Well, I'm not pregnant," offered Misaki. She couldn't help but be the tiniest bit amused. Funny, she thought. Shouldn't she be disappointed that her mother was flinging advice and giggles of excitement in her direction? She wasn't. Because she hadn't expected anything else. And Misaki was perfectly okay with it.

"I bet you are," her mother sniffed.

"You caught me, Ma," Misaki said. "Now you know where I was and what I was doing last night and now I'm pregnant. I hope you're ready to be a grandmother." The look of absolute horror on the older woman's face was incredibly satisfying, especially since it was far from the truth. Although, Misaki mused, it made a lot more sense than saying 'me and my best friend chucked snow globes off a building for a few hours like the immature idiots we are.'

"Whatever he did to you...I don't like it. But it can still be changed." And suddenly, Misaki's mother's eyes had a desperate light to them, something more wild than Misaki had ever seen before.

"Change what?"

"Love is a curse, Misaki," she said, shaking her head feverishly. "It's a _curse_."

"That explains a lot," said Misaki. She studied her mother carefully. She was having one of her moments. Now would be a good time to run upstairs and stay there where she was—relatively—safe.

"Don't do it," her mother said, almost pleading. "Nothing good comes out of loving someone. You lose them. You always lose them."

"That's—" Misaki's words evaporated when the curtain rose. Everything made so much sense in that moment that she almost laughed. She probably would have if the realizations weren't so bitter. There was a long moment of absolute silence. What to do in a situation where you realize that your mother was a horrid bitch all of your life simply because she didn't want to love you? Um. Awkward. Misaki looked up at the snow-white ceiling as if answers would fall down like snowflakes. Snow globes. Tsubasa.

_Epiphany of the century!_

"You won't ever lose me, Mom," Misaki said quietly and embraced the trembling woman in front of her. It was a straight up Hallmark moment.

Well, it was until Misaki was shoved away forcefully.

"I will," she said flatly. "And you'll lose him, too. Love is a curse."

"Have you ever considered a career in fortune cookie writing?" Misaki asked. No reply. "Okay then. Well, I'll see you around. Love you, Mom."

She wasn't really sure why she threw in that last bit. Maybe to prove something to herself. Maybe to try and prove something to her mother. She just didn't know.

Halfway up the stairs to her room, Misaki heard a loud vibrating sound coming from her pocket just a millisecond before she felt it. Checking the number, she saw it as one she didn't know, but answered it anyway.

It was a good thing she did because that phone call turned out to be the one that changed her life.

Sort of.

"Natsume?" she asked incredulously. "How the hell did you get my number? Mikan? Of course. Right. So why are you calling me? No, dude, seriously, why are you—oh. You aren't kidding?" Misaki laughed so hard she couldn't speak for a moment. She could practically hear Natsume flicking his lighter on and off on the other line.

"Sorry," she wheezed. "It's just...you're so stupid. Yeah, you heard me. You're an idiot. You want my advice? Here it is: grow a pair and go after her, okay?"

There was a long moment where Natsume rambled, something so unlike him Misaki almost started laughing again. When he finished, Misaki said, "Good luck."

He hung up first and Misaki spent a moment listening to the obnoxious dial tone.

"Not that you'll need it," she told the sound that she knew would remain in her head for hours. She closed the phone with a loud snap and smiled lightly. Okay, so maybe the phone call didn't really change _her_ life, but it did change the outcome of one of the cutest pairings to come into existence.

The phone call that _really_ changed her life came one minute and forty seconds later.

It was the phone call that made her pale, that made her cry, and that made her wonder if her mother was a prophet.

It made her wonder if love really was a curse.

* * *

**I've noticed that I'm actually doing these kind of out of order, you know? Like, the next chapter takes place before the phone call. Speaking of phone calls, why did Natsume call Misaki? I'm not gonna lie, it probably won't matter for a while, but I thought Natsume and Mikan have been neglected for long enough. So, until next time! Reviews make my world go around!**


	16. Time of Dying

**A/N: I know. I've been gone for months and months and months. For the first time, I have an original excuse for it. It has nothing to do with school or writer's block or anything. It's actually a really long, boring story that involves my mother and her fifth psychotic breakdown. On the bright side, after several months of being to preoccupied with dealing with her to write, I finally cracked and spent three days doing nothing but binge-writing. So now I've finished **_**More To This**_** and **_**Vampire Knight Alphabet, **_**along with writing three other one-shots. Like I said: binge-writing. On a happier note, I turned sixteen on the 28****th**** of April. Yay me! And how about that Royal Wedding, eh? **

**DISCLAIMER: Gakuen Alice isn't mine. This computer that my godmother gave to me back in February, however, is.**

* * *

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN:**

**TIME OF DYING by Three Days Grace**

_On the ground I lay, motionless in pain._

_I can see my life flashing before my eyes._

_Did I fall asleep? Is this all a dream?_

_Wake me up, I'm living a nightmare._

* * *

Tsubasa didn't really consider himself much of the whistling sort. But in the twilight as he walked to his car, he whistled cheerfully. He found something, something real, something beautiful, and he had no intention of letting it go. Except now he was faced with the curious question of what to do.

Blinking and rather puzzled, Tsubasa leaned against his car that he'd reached without noticing, and frowned at the sky as if it was the source of his problem. Yes, Kaname told him to throw all rational thought—all guard against having his heart smashed—out the window and tell Misaki exactly how he felt. But it was so much _harder_ than that. He drummed his fingers rapidly against the car and listened to the sound, marveled the lack of rhythm.

Did he know he was being angsty? Of course he did! It was his best stalling tactic. But as the best at stalling know, even the most inventive of tactics only work for so long and his came to an end much quicker than Tsubasa liked.

"Well," he said to his car wryly, "I could always wait until I see her again. I kind of slipped away after the kiss anyway..." Yes, yes this seemed like a good idea. But... "But I'm not that patient," Tsubasa continued. "So I should probably go break into her room and tell her...okay, well, I'm not sure exactly what I'll say, but it's better than waiting." Satisfied with his conclusion, Tsubasa pushed himself of the car's hood and moved to the driver's side, throwing open the door. Before climbing in, however, Tsubasa patted the top of his car gently and said, "Thanks," having forgotten that cars rarely respond to things like that—even the ridiculously expensive kind.

_I will not die (I will not die). I will survive. _

_I will not die, I'll wait here for you._

_I feel alive when you're beside me. _

_I will not die, I'll wait here for you_

_In my time of dying._

* * *

It wasn't a frequent thing for Tsubasa to appreciate having such an expensive car, but in that moment, he was thankful for it because he wondered if a cheaper one might not have stopped as quickly as his did. Not feeling the need to ponder on it, Tsubasa moved hastily toward the swaying boy who he had braked so hastily for.

Before he could even see him, the smell of heavy alcohol hit him. He wrinkled his nose, wondering how he ever managed to down it.

"Right," Tsubasa said awkwardly. "So, you're drunk." The other seemed incapable of speech for a long moment.

"Home," he said finally.

"Okay," said Tsubasa because this would've been him if it weren't for Kaname and if it weren't for him, Kaname wouldn't be in the hospital right now. "Just tell me where."

Then the kid puked. Tsubasa patted him on the back just as he'd patted his car.

"Let's go," he said firmly and guided him to the car, briefly thinking that the whole thing must've looked pretty weird to someone watching from their window.

"I'm not kidnapping you, by the way," Tsubasa added. The kid nodded, his eyes somewhere faraway, or maybe nowhere at all. He couldn't remember where that place was, what it was like. It had been a long, long time...

"Let's go," he muttered again and jumped when he felt something poke him. It was the kid, handing him a piece of paper. An address.

"Well, this makes things easier," Tsubasa said, relieved. So far he had done most of the talking and didn't know if he could even get directions out of his new charge.

As Tsubasa drove, he let his mind wander, let himself think. This car ride had to be irony at its best.

Tsubasa glanced at the slip of paper again. Then he realized he almost passed the house. He braked sharply and got an eyeful of the house. It was bigger than his parents'. It was bigger than Misaki's. It was giant. Tsubasa looked at the boy again.

He even looked sort of like him with his dark hair and dark eyes. It was creepy. It honestly kind of scared him.

"So," Tsubasa said. "You're home now."

The kid opened the door and stumbled out. Tsubasa watched him stumble to the door. The door opened and the kid all but fell inside.

Tsubasa decided that was his time to leave.

He tried to look at the bright side of things. The kid was safe. Hallelujah. Praise to the people and whatnot. A sense of okay-ness filled Tsubasa at the thought. He remembered Misaki's idea of atonement and smiled.

The okay feeling stayed with him as the red light turned to red, telling him to go, go, go. He still felt peaceful as he realized that there were car lights coming from the wrong direction. He didn't have time to be fazed by the sound of of metal-on-metal as the cars met. For a moment, he was weightless. Space and time didn't exist.

He wondered if this was cosmic justice. An eye for an eye and all that.

Then the pain came and the whole world went white.

_On this bed I lay, losing everything. _

_I can see my life passing me by._

_Was it all too much? Or just not enough?_

_Wake me up, I'm living a nightmare._

* * *

Misaki closed her eyes and said, "You're lying to me." It was a desperate attempt at denying the truth. It failed. He wasn't lying. She knew it. She could never say quite how she knew that Tsubasa was in pain, but the point was that she knew.

"_I wouldn't lie about something like this,_" Kaname said.

"I don't want this to be happening," Misaki breathed.

"_Go to him, Misaki_," Kaname said. "_If anyone can break into a room where people are performing surgery on a car accident victim, it's you_."

Misaki didn't reply, just dropped her phone to the ground.

She tore down the stairs, rushing past her mother so fast she didn't hear her say, "I told you so." It wouldn't have changed anything if she had.

The world around her didn't seem right. There was something wrong with the it, something very, very, very wrong. All Misaki knew was that Tsubasa couldn't be dead, couldn't die. She could see his face. She could feel his mouth on hers. He was alive. He would be fine. It wasn't his time to die. Tsubasa couldn't ever die.

He was immortal.

_I will not die (I will not die). I will survive. _

_I will not die, I'll wait here for you._

_I feel alive when you're beside me._

_I will not die, I'll wait here for you_

_In my time of dying._

* * *

Kaname was afraid. He wished he could get up out of this stupid bed he was trapped in. But really, he thought, there was nothing he could do whether he was immobile or not. He knew his parents would be coming soon. They would destroy speed limits to get to the hospital the moment they found out that Tsubasa's life was hanging in the balance. To them, it would be Kaname all over.

Kaname smiled wanly. He felt bad for his parents. They loved too much.

The fair-haired boy wondered if this was how Tsubasa felt when he was sitting in the waiting room those years ago. If so, he felt terrible for him. This hurt like nothing else. Kaname just hoped to God that Misaki would be able to scream and fight her way to Tsubasa. He didn't doubt it. He barely knew the girl, but Tsubasa knew her and that was good enough for Kaname.

He stared out the window, frowning at the night sky.

Why did horrible things happen to good people?

Clearly, justice didn't exist.

"Kaname?" He looked up to see the love of his life. He smiled faintly. She brightened up everything slightly. The world wasn't better. At best it wasn't so hideous.

Because Tsubasa could still be dying.

_I will not die, I'll wait here for you._

_I feel alive when you're beside me. _

_I will not die, I'll wait here for you_

_In my time of dying._

* * *

There was a girl. Her voice was ringing around in his head. She was screaming his name. And not in any good sort of way. He knew this girl. He knew her well. He just couldn't remember her name. It pulled and tugged at him like a fly. But it didn't cover the pain.

Tsubasa almost passed out again because he hurt so badly.

"I'm not joking, miss, you really, _really_ need to leave."

"I'm not going anywhere!" Misaki. He remembered her name and it began to ring around his head like church bells. He clung to the sound desperately because he knew that it would make everything all better.

Tsubasa imagined her face. First she was scowling, then she was smiling, then she was fake-crying. So many difference sides, but she was beautiful every time. Tsubasa forced his eyes open. He couldn't see, not really, but her outline was solid enough for him. He could see her almost alarmingly pink hair that stood out against the the scrubs of the doctors. Doctors?

"Don't die." For some reason, her soft words seemed the loudest to him. "You can't die on me,Tsubasa. I love you. You win the bet, okay?"

Just before the world went dark around him again and Tsubasa lost consciousness, he decided that he was going to live.

_I will not die, I'll wait here for you._

_I will not die when you're beside me. _

_I will not die, I'll wait here for you_

_In my time of dying._

* * *

**I know what you're thinking: "Oh lovely. She updated. Now we have to wait another six months for the next chapter. Well, never fear, my dear readers (if there are any of you left). I'm going to post the next chapter in about one minute. And then I'll post the final chapter another minute after that. In fact, by the time you get to this bottom author's note, the two emails should be in your inbox! :)**


	17. Somewhere Only We Know

**A/N: Because who doesn't like this song? This isn't even really a full-blown chapter. It's more of a little snippet thingy I felt the need to add.**

**DISCLAIMER: I have not magically become the owner of Gakuen Alice in the past few minutes. Maybe between now and the next chapter...**

* * *

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:**

**SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW ****by Keane**

_And if you have a minute, why don't we go_

_Talk about it somewhere only we know?_

_This could be the end of everything,_

_So why don't we go somewhere only we know?_

* * *

Misaki sighed, looking down at the broken, sleeping boy. In a normal situation, she would've been crying delicately, her tears dropping on his face. She would've been sad. But situations surrounding Misaki were never normal, so naturally, she had a look of complete exasperation on her face.

"You're just pathetic," she informed him scathingly. "I mean, you aren't in a coma or anything. Just getting the sleep you need to recover or whatever. I think that's bull. I think you're just being a lazy bum. I'd poke you if every inch of you was damaged goods. But I'll take you anyway."

She sighed, the exasperated look replaced by a small, gentle smile.

"Anyway," she continued, "Once you wake up and get yourself better enough, the doctors are talking about moving you to Kaname's room. I bet Nurse Helga is going to love that. I don't think she likes me very much. Probably just jealous of my good looks. Oh, great. I sound like you."

Misaki turned her gaze from Tsubasa to the sunshine streaming in from the window. It burned her eyes. That was the only reason they teared up, really it was. But she wouldn't let herself cry. She couldn't.

"Remember when we were on the roof?" Misaki said abruptly. "All the times we watched the sun go down? And the time we watched the sun come up? We should do that again sometime. In fact, that's one of the first things we should do when you can actually walk again."

She watched him breathe. His chest rose and fell and rose and fell. He was breathing. That was something.

Slowly, Misaki reached out toward the hand closest to her. It seemed wrong that his hands should be so still. Tsubasa was meant to always be moving.

She closed her hand around his and nearly toppled out of her chair was the machine beside her started beeping rapidly.

* * *

Tsubasa liked the place he was at, sitting on the grass at some park he didn't recognize. It was really nice. Plus, it had Misaki.

He ran his fingers through the bright green grass below him as he turned his head up to the sky. It was very blue today. More blue than usual. Cloudless.

"Hey!" He jumped. Misaki was frowning at him, arms crossed. They weren't alone at the park, but she stood out clearer than any of the other people surrounding them. Tsubasa doubted it had anything to do with the fact that she was barely three feet away from him.

"I was listening," Tsubasa said, even though he wasn't. Misaki saw right through him and tossed an apple at his head. He caught it nimbly and took a large bite out of it.

Yes, this place was very nice. He could stay here forever.

"No you can't," Misaki said.

"Can't what?" Tsubasa asked.

"You can't stay here," Misaki told him gently. He should've known there was something off when her words were so careful, so tender. The normal Misaki would've said it bluntly and probably called him and idiot for thinking that he could remain like this.

"Yes we can," Tsubasa protested. Misaki got up.

"Let me take you somewhere," she said. "It'll be fun."

"There." Misaki pointed to far, far away and for the first time, Tsubasa noticed darkness in the park. It was a growing shadow, something that looked dangerous and sad and very, very not fun.

"I don't know," Tsubasa said uneasily. "I think I have to stay here."

"Why do you have to stay?" Misaki demanded. "That's so great about this place?"

"I'm...waiting," Tsubasa said. "I'm waiting."

"You can wait later," Misaki said. "Just come with me."

"I don't know," Tsubasa repeated.

"I'm trying to pay back the favor here," Misaki said crossly. "I mean, you showed me the world, so why can't I do the same for you?"

She had a fair point. Tsubasa tried to think, but the people around him were becoming impossibly loud. Their voices grew and grew until he was dizzy.

"These people won't be there?" Tsubasa asked.

"Just you and me," Misaki promised.

"Alright," Tsubasa said, because he trusted Misaki. He trusted her more than anyone. Except Kaname, but Kaname wasn't there. He paused, wondering just where Kaname was anyway. Misaki jerked him out of his thoughts before he had any time to put any conclusions together.

"Come on, Tsubasa," Misaki said impatiently. She was holding out her hand. "Let's _go_!"

"Where are we going anyway?"

Misaki smiled. "Somewhere only we know," she said. Tsubasa grabbed her hand. She squeezed as she tugged him up excitedly and then Tsubasa felt his chest explode.

* * *

**If we're being honest here, I have to say that I only wrote this half-chapter because I wanted to add the song S****omewhere Only We Know here. But that isn't the point. Okay. Off to go post the final chapter!**


	18. More Than This

**Here we go! Final chapter. More To This. More Than This. Close enough, right? Also, I couldn't stop myself from throwing in a tiny little bit of Natsume x Mikan. I've had it planned out in my head this whole time so...**

**DICLAIMER: I've said it about seventeen times already in the making of this fic, but I'll say it again: Gakuen Alice isn't mine.**

* * *

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:**

**MORE THAN THIS by Vanessa Carlton**

_Time, it fades away_

_As precious as a song_

_'Cause someday we'll be gone._

* * *

She knew that she was sitting in the Danger Zone. She had never been this close to the edge of the roof, not even when_ he_ was with her. Misaki swallowed. The last time she'd come to the abandoned building Tsubasa had taken her to had been three days after That Day. It had been almost too much to handle.

She listened idly to the sounds of the party going on below her. She wondered if anyone knew she was up here. Probably not.

Misaki was seated on the edge, legs dangling precariously over the side. She could die if she slid only a couple inches forward. She didn't really think about life or death the same way anymore. They meant something different now. Everything was different.

The wind picked up, slicing across her cheeks. It didn't hurt, not too badly. Nothing hurt. Not since That Day. Misaki had become almost immune to pain. She'd been informed that the numbness to unhappy things should've faded by now. But it hadn't. Misaki smiled. It never would.

"Hey."

She turned her head to the side.

"Hey," she replied.

"You really shouldn't be so close," Tsubasa said, although Misaki noticed that he actually looked faintly amused. "You could fall."

"I already did," Misaki reminded him, not talking about the building at all anymore. He walked towards her and stretched out his hand. Misaki took it and he helped her up. He spun her into his arms, still smiling.

Misaki looked up at the sky. The stars winked back at her.

"It's almost midnight," she said.

"Happy birthday to me," Tsubasa said cheerfully.

"Not for another...sixteen minutes," Misaki said. She enjoyed correcting him. She was still riding the bliss of having him, alive and well.

"What do you think Nurse Helga is going to get me for my birthday?" Tsubasa asked.

"A pile of poop," Misaki told him honestly. It wouldn't surprise her. Tsubasa laughed. It was a loud sound that shook his whole body. Misaki was so close that she could hear the vibrations in his chest. She leaned into him, letting her mind wander back to the moment all those months ago when he opened his eyes. He liked to tell Misaki that she had an idiotic, stunned look on her face when she stared back at him.

Of course, he only ever told her this when he was still healing so Misaki couldn't hit him or anything. Now she could. She didn't.

"Where's Kaname?" she asked. Tsubasa smirked. "Don't answer that," Misaki said hastily.

"You'd think that he would actually come to see _us_," Tsubasa said. "I mean really, he sees his nurse girlfriend all the time, but he's with her right now."

"What's her name again?"

"I don't remember. I don't think Kaname ever actually told us."

"He was too busy sucking face with her to give us her name."

There was silence before they both started laughing. Out of the corner, Misaki saw something glint in the moonlight. She pulled away from Tsubasa and walked over toward it. Tsubasa followed Misaki, watching as she picked up whatever it was she'd seen and inspected it closer.

It was a snow globe.

"I guess we missed one," Misaki said, surprised.

"It's a sign," Tsubasa said wisely. Misaki snorted.

"You and your signs," she scoffed.

"So, do we leave it or toss it?" Tsubasa asked, ignoring the jab.

"We can decide tomorrow," Misaki said.

"You mean in about ten minutes?"

Misaki shot Tsubasa a dark look. He grinned, making her scowl soften considerably. Then he kissed her and her scowl vanished entirely.

* * *

Natsume was dying. For starters, he didn't know what he was doing at this ridiculous party in the first place. Oh wait, yeah he did. Mikan was here. And as much as Natsume hated Tsubasa, Mikan could never be trusted to be alone. She was an idiot. A sweet, adorable, wonderful, gorgeous idiot. Natsume pinched himself.

His therapist had told him to do so whenever he thought of burning something, but Natsume had taken the idea and used it for Mikan instead. For the record, it didn't stop him from thinking about her all the time which simply proves that therapists aren't a smart as they think they are.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Luna had somehow managed to find her way and crashed the party. No one had the heart to kick her out and she was stalking Natsume. He had no clue what to do.  
"Help me," he hissed to Ruka.

"Ask Mikan for help," Ruka said cheerfully. Natsume shot his best friend a scathing look.

"I'm not gonna ask that idiot for anything," he said firmly.

"Not even a date?"

For the first time in his life, Natsume choked on his own spit. It was a traumatizing experience that he would forever avoid thinking about.

"Stop talking stupid," he said after a minute.

"Go on," Ruka urged him with a gentle smile on his face. Then he winked. "I've refocused my attention on an even more impossible person." Natsume followed Ruka's gaze.

"Imai?" he asked incredulously. "Hotaru Imai? She's been blackmailing you since we were in elementary school!"

"Natsume, Natsume," Ruka said, shaking his head. "Don't you know that when a girl blackmails you, it means she likes you?"

Natsume didn't have a response to that. He just watched Ruka disbelievingly as he wandered over to Hotaru. Ruka tossed Natsume one last look, one that seemed to say, _Go get her, dude!_

Natsume shook his head slowly, wondering when the world had become so screwed up.

Then he heard a loud, almost psychotic sounding laugh and, like a marionette having its strings pulled, he immediately whipped around to see Mikan. She was talking to his little sister. What kind of guy gets a crush on his little sister's friend? No. No, he liked Mikan before Aoi even knew her name. Natsume frowned. He was appallingly confused now. Then only thing he knew was that he didn't just have a stupid little crush on Mikan anymore. He loved her. But he couldn't have her because—

And _then_ he realized that he had nothing stopping him from finally doing something about Mikan. The problem was he had spent so long repressing the emotions down that he didn't know what to do about them.

Maybe he should just act on impulse...

Kissing her seemed like a good idea. So he did. The world around him kept moving, he knew that much. But it didn't feel like it, not when she kissed him back.

"If I told you that I love you, would you scream at an obnoxiously high volume?" Natsume asked her quietly. Mikan nodded wildly, beaming like an idiot. Natsume made sure to plug his ears before proceeding to sloppily explain his—ugh—_feelings._

Even muffling the sound didn't stop him from wincing at the high pitched squeal she made that may have been, "I love you, too." It made Natsume smile, just a tiny bit.

* * *

Misaki jumped.

"What was that godawful sound?" she asked, alarmed.

"Probably Mikan," Tsubasa said mildly. "I have this feeling Natsume's gonna make a move tonight."

"Ah," Misaki said. A comfortable silence fell between them and she began to fall asleep, mooching Tsubasa's body heat.

Then there was another sound, this one even louder than Mikan's squeal.

"What what _that_?" Misaki yelped. "And don't you dare say it was Mikan."

"I think Kaname and Natsume are busting out the fireworks." Misaki sat up a little straighter.

"Really?" she asked. Tsubasa nodded.

He said, "Somebody has a friend who has another friend who knows somebody else who can cut us some slack, meaning we can set off some big ones."

"I think we'll get a good view," Misaki said thoughtfully. Tsubasa didn't reply and Misaki wondered if he had fallen asleep. So she turned to him and found he was studying her face.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," he said.

"Tell me," Misaki pressed. Tsubasa smiled, amused at her persistence.

"I was just thinking," he said, "that I'll never need more than this." He kissed her again just as Kaname's normally soft voice rang out louder than usual.

"Hit it, Natsume!" he shouted.

"Yeah, yeah," Natsume drawled. There was a flick of a lighter, a loud explosion, and what looked like a star falling up. Suddenly, the sky was burning.

* * *

**And now I'm done. Damn. Wow. Okay. Well. I always get really freaked out when I finish a story. I'll probably stick with one-shots for a while, unless something comes up. If anybody has any requests about anything, PM me and I'll see what I can do. **


End file.
